Sakura Blossoms
by wrecked
Summary: BEING REWRITTEN with new plot. For years, Balmung has watched as the World is targeted then heroes save the day, stepping into the crossfire only when needed. Now, he finds himself the one fighting for the World and all the people around him.
1. Chapter 1

It was a quiet, less than active day in the World. Which meant something was up, but hardly a soul noticed.

And that included a player by the name of Anissa, who was consistently jumping up and down, both in virtual and non-virtual reality, and laughing at some of the looks she received from observers who were passing by.

With silver hair, occasionally glinting with a lavender sheen in a certain light, violet skirt half-way to the knees, fishnet arm warmers up half way past the elbow, and black boots, matching violet eyes, which seemed to go on forever, and creamy skin, she looked the sight of an angel on a over active hyper spree.

And truth was, an angel on an overactive hyper spree was the exact truth. An angel with an attitude, vocabulary including of four constantly used four-letter words, and sometimes destructive streak, anyways.

Any who met her in battle or watch her grace in clash with a monster of the World would undoubtedly say something along the lines of 'Big, destructive things can come in cute, nice packages'. That, was also the truth.

Anissa, having eating ten small bars of chocolate in victory of defeating a monster ten levels higher than herself and her twin blades, ranted on about the superiority of being a twin blades to her older sister and the only one she'd say was unwaveringly faithful to her, Kayane.

Kayane, in truth, looked like she was the older sister without the need to be stated so, but also the near opposite, which led to the question of how it was assumed automatically.

Instead of a light color, Kayane had black hair, which shimmered with a dark violet hue every now and then, green eyes that seemed to end right at the beginning in a sudden calm, a black jacket and white shirt ending at the waist underneath, and a black skirt. Her hair, nearly down to her knees, was pulled back in a low ponytail by a large white ribbon.

"I really like being a twin blade. Quick, fun, much, much better. Better than a heavy blade, right?" Anissa chirped, twirling on one foot as she stared up at the skies. "No offense to our favorite heavy blade, though."

Watching her sister from the corner of her eye while she faced the center of the town they were in, which was Carmina Gadelica, she nodded in response, silently waiting for her sister to opt for hitting a dungeon once more.

Grinning, Anissa noted the slight nod of her sister's head and lack of complete attention. "We're even better than those blade master people, too, aren't I?"

"Nope."

"Damn, I almost got you."

"Nope."

Anissa stuck her tongue out childishly. "Nyah, I'm still right though. I'm always right."

"Right and Wrong is only a matter of opinion," Kayane voiced, turning her head to look at Anissa yet keeping her face solidly still.

"Whatever! You're my big sister, you're supposed to let me be right, not give me truth back in my face." Anissa began to cackle when her sister opened her mouth to speak but shut it again and looked the other way.

"Shuyin's here."

Then Anissa stopped doing everything altogether.

Anissa looked up at Kayane shocked from where she had rooted her feet to the ground suddenly. "What do you mean?" Following her sister's gaze, she saw the person that was the object of Kayane's almost careless statement. Him. "Him again." Anissa muttered, looking down and brushing off the palms of her hands distractedly. "I thought I told you I didn't like you anymore." she voiced, wondering absently why Kayane hadn't charged after him for some of the thing he'd done to her while they'd been dating.

"I don't know whether to say he remembers what you said, or to say he's forgotten," Kayane dead-panned, sending as cool a look as she could to the man who was known to them as Shuyin and mentally berating herself for ever letting Anissa still go out with him after she'd been informed of their romantic relationship.

"What do you mean?" Anissa asked, glancing over at Kayane.

"Check your email in-box."

Anissa did and it could be easily enough said that her jaw dropped. "Twelve new fucking messages?" Then she looked up at her sister. "How'd you --?"

"He sent me a bunch of 'please don't kill me emails'."

Anissa mentally sighed. Oh, fucking, boy, she muttered in her mind.

Kayane and Shuyin never got off on a good start, to put it lightly. Anissa had asked Shuyin out and he accepted. They went out, him usually keeping his hands to himself, never trying to touch her intimately, or get her alone with him. After about three months, he'd tried to move further, deeper kisses on not just the lips and getting pushed back each time. One night, Anissa had complained to her older sister about it and, to put it lightly, she walked out of the house, eerily calm, found him in an alley, smoking a cigarette and didn't beat the shit out of him, but talked to him. He never tried anything like that again. Afterwards, Shuyin always stayed outside when picking her up and when he did come into her sight, he always kept his eyes low and never looked her in the eye. i _That_, she fully understood.

Her sister had always been a force to reckon with and her bad-side was highly feared because you never got hurt physically but damn, her sister knew exactly what to say and where it hurt.

"Kayane, I think he's smart enough to not get himself talked to a crying pulp in this world, too," Anissa chided, crossing her arms demandingly.

But being her younger sister certainly had its major perks.

Kayane tore her gaze from Shuyin and looked at her younger sister. "I don't think being ignorant of your feelings is being smart enough to not get a few words up, Anissa. Unless he's got a death-wish, he's as big an idiot he was then."

Yet being younger meant not being as smart and quick to speak as well. Damned age difference.

Anissa snorted to herself. She should have known her sister would have said that. Very good at playing her role, she muttered in her head. "No, you should talk to him, make him apologize and offer to do something in return," she responded snidely, closing her eyes and sticking her nose up defiantly. She opened her eyes when she heard the sound of two people snort. Kayane and Shuyin.

"Alright," the two of them deadpanned sardonically.

Sigh. How alike the two of them were.

"Fine." Anissa turned to Kayane. "You; S.B., now. Go." She turned back to Shuyin and rolled her eyes at the angry look on his face, a glare directed at Kayane, no attempt made to hide it from her. "Go bye bye now, or I will actually let her do whatever she wants without kicking and screaming for her to stop." With that, Anissa spun on her heel and walked away, leaving a stunned, confused Shuyin and an almost amused Kayane.

Who's the older one here? Kayane inwardly questioned. She paused for a second, a few of Anissa's words dawning on her. "Let me?" her voice still calm.

"Yep. Younger sister, here, remember?" Anissa replied, waiting for her sister to come up next to her.

"Can't let you forget it, can I?" Kayane sneered, folding her arms, her calm and almost cold exterior already going back in place. Kayane ignored her for the rest of the time they were in The World. Her little sister was going to be in so much trouble when they logged out and Anissa came over to her home and her father's for two weeks.

** center b (-) /center /b **

Lightning raged in the area as Shugo and Rena fought a monster. A data monster. They were down to very few life points and low on magic as well. Finally, Shugo could use Data Drain and succeeded. Now, all that was left to do was rid the monster of its life points before it did the same to them. A few minutes passed and the monster was destroyed, leaving nothing but a memory in the twins' minds.

"Shugo, let's go. I don't like it here. Let's go back before another monster sent by whoever it was shows up again," Rena offered, standing close to Shugo, her brother.

"Yeah, let's."

Glancing to each other from habit, both of them activated Sprite Ocarina, left the dungeon, then headed back to Carmina Gadelica.

"Sakura Blossoms we go," Shugo declared jovially almost instantly after arriving, then grinned without a higher reason other than excitement as golden rings circled around them once more and they were transported to area aforementioned.

"Sakura Blossoms," Rena smiled, glad to see the familiar pink blossoms around her and the sight of a couple of her dearest friends. "Anissa! Kayane!" Rena and Shugo ran toward their friends. Even though Kayane was older, they were still extremely good friends; great friends. Shugo favored Anissa more, living less than a mile away from each other, and Rena took more of a liking to Kayane, living just two streets over. Shugo to Anissa because he liked the way she wasn't too much of an adult and Rena to Kayane because Kayane knew so many things and stories and strategies and so on and so forth.

"Yo, twin alert!" Anissa laughed, springing up from her position of laying against a tree to almost a run toward her friends, while Kayane looked down from where she was quite peacefully sitting on a tree branch. 

"Fancy meeting you here," Kayane smiled, watching as the three of them embraced and Rena tore away to run up to the tree.

"Hey, batgirl!" Rena smiled, waving hello. "Why don't you come down?"

Obliging, Kayane slid off the branch and landed gracefully in front of Rena before she had said 'don't' and ruffled the girl's hair. "No harm in that, right?" Kayane smirked, walking over to where Shugo was telling Anissa of the Data monster they just saw.

"And what have you two been up to?" Kayane asked Rena, referring to both her and her brother.

"We just got back from defeating a Data Monster," the reply came, from not just Rena, but Shugo as well.

"Took us forever and we almost lost," Shugo continued, absently yawning. "We escaped with less than a hundred Life Points. It was close.

"What did it look like this time?" Anissa asked, sitting down and folding her legs.

"That's the thing," Rena began. "It looked like a bunch of things. It changed it's form after awhile."

"We had to adjust our attacks and strategies each time. We didn't know the weaknesses of half the monsters it transformed into and had to guess on them," Shugo continued. "We could've really used your help. With all of us there, at least one of us would've known what to do each time."

"Hell yeah! Then why didn't you ask us to come?" Anissa looked up at Shugo and Rena expectantly.

"Well," Rena began, trying to think of why they hadn't done just that. "I don't know. I guess we were just--"

"You wanted to do something yourselves without any help, am I correct?" Kayane interrupted, no touch of anger or misunderstanding in her voice at all. Nor was there any hint of any other emotion in her voice either, as it usually was.

"Yeah." Shugo looked over at Kayane almost… defiantly, as if waiting for her to announce her disapproval if their decision.

Kayane and Anissa exchanged quick looks and smiled. "We can understand that perfectly," they both assured, referring back to when they were younger and were in similar positions as the two twins were.

"Come on, let's go and have some fun," Anissa smiled. "Anyone up for hittin' a dungeon or ten?"

Kayane was walking by her sister at her first sentence, having guessed what she was going on about. Along the way, though, she extended a hand and pulled her sister to her feet. "Or ten."

"I was being funny," Anissa informed, brushing herself off then playfully pushing Kayane in the direction of the Chaos gate.

"And ten dungeons is?" Kayane looked over her shoulder calmly. "And besides, _ i I'm /i _ the one bored and needing to do something for once." Kayane had reached the Chaos gate by the end of her sentence and was disappearing as she turned give her sister a small and warm smile.

Anissa glared at the spot her sister had been at last. "When I get to her and dad's house to spend a week visiting them, I am so going to invite Shuyin to the house i _just /i _ to piss her off."

Rena ran past Shugo and Anissa, eager to join in with Kayane and her search for a challenging and venting worthy dungeon. "Come on, you guys! Let's hurry or she'll have destroyed half the monsters in the field by the time we get there!" Rena laughed, waving them on to hurry up at the Chaos gate, disappearing a moment after.

"You had better take some pictures for me so I can see Kayane's face. Or maybe getting it on tape too, by the way," Shugo smiled, walking along side Anissa to the Chaos gate.

"Don't worry, I am going to need all the help I can get afterwards if I want to be even remotely close to still living when she figures out I coordinated it all."

Chuckling, Anissa grabbed Shugo's hand and ran to the Chaos gate. Needless to say, what Rena had said about her sister was the full truth and Anissa was guessing that more than half the monster portals, and the monsters inside them would be gone by the time anyone caught up with her.

Ah, such is the life of having a sister that, by Anissa standards, was inhumanly perfect.


	2. Chapter 2

She hated the rain. But then again, Anissa loved it at the same time, and had loved the rain ever since she'd heard her sister's reason for loving the rain. 'It seemed to come and cleanse away all the stuff that was bad', and her sister had even said that everything, even the 'that was bad' part, was all just her opinion. What was bad to her could mean the world to another, and that was the only argument Alyssa ever used against anyone when stating her opinion to someone who didn't like it.

Stepping out of the cab after snapping out of the small daze she'd locked herself into while staring at the beads of water on the door window, Anissa payed the cab driver, hefted her back pack higher up onto her shoulder, then turned to the small, one floor house that belonged to both her father and her sister.

Every other weekend in the summer, she'd spend two weeks living at her mother's then switch over to live two weeks with her father, and during the school year, which it was at the moment, she'd spend every other weekend at her father's while but live with her mother.

Sometimes, when in a certain compassionate and worrying mood or overly missing her sister and father, wanting just to be cared for, she'd desperately wish that her sister would do the same, _could_ do the same, but then Anissa would remember that her mother disowned Alyssa completely and was only under the strict custody of her father.

Well, that and neither her mother or Alyssa, which she'd rarely thought of as Kayane except in the World despite the almost surprising likenesses in looks, wanted Alyssa to even step inside her mother's home. It was as if they both thought that the other was the Devil's incarnate.

Pulling out a key, Anissa unlocked the door to front of the house, noting absently that one of the cars was in the driveway, which meant that one of them were home. While Anissa wouldn't say her father and her sister weren't close, they didn't spend more than five hours a day in the same building, let alone converse with each other for more than two hours.

No one would ever guess such a thing when they took off for their job, or they both got a while to spend time together because they seemed to know exactly everything that went on. When the other came home, when the other left for work, what the other had for lunch – the knowledge seemed to transferred from one mind to the other eerily. More often than not, it frightened Anissa, but then only changed to admiring them both.

Glancing at the surroundings for a split second, knowing the placements of everything in the living room by heart because it never seemed to change but never seemed old, she smiled and opened her mouth to call out to whomever it was that was home at the moment.

"Yo, guess who's back! Back _again_!."

"Nissi's back. Tell a friend."

"Ma-a-a-aybe!" Anissa giggled, laughing at the sound of her sister's deadpan voice. Walking down the hall to her sister's, passing her own room up, and crossed her arms at the sight of her sister pulling off the combat boots she wore just to only one of her workplaces. "Did you just get home?"

"Yeah. Double shift. Taryn's out since the accident that happened after I checked out last night. Drunk came in, demanded free service for his car then he took a knife and cut a line up her lower arm when she refused. Not too deep, it'll leave a scar, but she'll be getting five hundred from him because of it then money for all the hospital bills she'll receive."

"Damn."

"Yeah. Boss says he won't pay her for the first half of her shift though." Alyssa pulled off the second boot after untying the lengthy laces then began to pull off the jacket she wore over the white muscle tank top.

"Why?" Anissa asked, turning when her sister moved toward her dresser for a shirt to change into and opting for twirling a strip of her silvery blonde hair around her left index finger. Sniffing, smelling the scent of oil and scented candles instead of cleaning supplies and feathers, like it did at her mother's. It smelled natural, not fixed.

"My opinion is he's a male chauvinist."

Almost immediately, Anissa laughed at the bitter tone of her sister's voice. "What you think he only believes guys drive cars and take really good care of them and gave you both your jobs cause he thought you'd attract more men."

"What he said."

The chiding and sarcastic moment Anissa had been in disappeared as her jaw dropped and her eyebrows furrowed. "What the fuck? You serious?" Flinching out of surprise when her sister walked past her out of the room while nodding, Anissa followed and gave Alyssa a side-ways look. "Ew."

"Not really. It's clever thinking and resourceful. I wouldn't do that if I were in his position though."

Anissa rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Noticing the lime green color of thread on her sister's black pants, Anissa looked down at her own pants and groaned. "You have the new color of these pants! Not fair, mom won't ever let me go there."

For once, her sister seemed genuinely confused for a moment before comprehending what Anissa meant.

"They're not on shelves yet. Employee discount."

You suck, Anissa wanted to growl at her sister, but something told her that she should keep her mouth shut instead when Alyssa tilted her head towards the ground a bit more while still looking at Anissa then sighed.

"Passenger seat."

"Yes! I love you! Buwahahaha, I have the coolest sister in the whole wide friggin world and in all the World, too!" Jumping onto her sister in a hug, turning, racing down the hall, Anissa whooped as her black boots thudded on the hardwood floor as she nearly scrambled to the door to the garage.

Rolling her eyes, Alyssa grabbed a one-inch thick plastic binder and a ring of keys off the counter table, her plain black zip-up hoodie and followed in Anissa's path. Almost coming in collision with Anissa blonde and black blur as she had run back inside after finding the black and red 'Hot Topic' bag, Alyssa laughed as her sister tried to form words.

Instead babbles with no meaning known to Alyssa came out of Anissa's mouth.

"Rena is going to meet us at the Kaligana Mall in about two hours and but we'll be dropping these papers off at dad's job site so he has them when he heads down there at three."

"Kali Mall? Sweet; I can get the new CD I wanted but mom wouldn't let me get because the band name has 'Used' in it. How fucked is that?"

"Excessive swearing."

"Sorry. It's like we have highly sensitive microphones in every corner of Mom's house and she comes in whenever I accidentally say shit or fuck if I drop something. Or if I even say a word while singing a song! It's depriving me of a little ventage, you know?"

"Uh huh."

"You're so not listening to me! This is what I get when I haven't seen you in a week and five days?"

"See me driving?"

Anissa made a face, sticking her tongue out in the process. "Hear the calling of My Chemical Romance?"

"Yup."

"Then we're clear!"

"Ma'am, yes ma'am."

Anissa laughed at the short nod of her sister's head and the way Alyssa jutted out her chin. "Okay, no, we're apparently not clear."

All Anissa received in return was a sudden, sharp turn of the car as they changed onto another street and the sound of a rock band that wasn't My Chemical Romance, but instead ICP seeping out from the speakers.

**(-)**

"Anissa. Home's calling."

"Yeah, yeah, I know! I can't go to places like this at Mom's, she won't let me go anywhere on my own. She's afraid I'll get snatched off the street by some goth guys on motorcycles that have skulls on them. I know that she was purposely talking about your friend, Nick, who is also my friend and Rena's and Shugo's! I need to get a new diary that I keep here because she keeps fucking reading the one at her house."

"You've told us that already," Rena sighed, smiling in good humor any ways.

"I know. I never get tired of talking remember? And I forget I say things so I say them again and after I say them a second time, I remember that I already said it. See? I'm doing it again."

"Shugo and Balmung wanted us to meet them at Sakura Blossoms half an hour ago," Alyssa said monotonously in a dull, careless voice tinged with annoyance.

"Really? I thought they called you and told you that they wanted us to meet them at Sakura Blossoms as four," Anissa replied.

"It's four-thirty," both Alyssa and Rena told her at the same time. "You have taken three hours to look at the _same_ boots and the _same_ arm warmers in the _same_ store."

Easily enough said, both Rena and Alyssa were getting impatient.

"Fine, lets go!" Anissa shouted in a falsely angry tone, hugging a pair of boots that she really liked then laughing when Rena sighed loudly and pulled her away almost roughly, laughing 'Oh, my God!' her eyes as she did.

The things Anissa did sometimes.

**(-)**

"What--" Shugo began to ask, watching as Kayane, Rena, and Anissa walked up to him and Balmung, forty-five minutes late.

Alyssa said, "You don't want to know," while Rena said different.

"Have any of you been at the mall with Anissa when she _couldn't _ buy anything and had to wait for her to stop drooling over two same things, and _even _leave her when she wouldn't budge after the first hour, look around at stuff for half an hour, come back to the store only to find her still staring at the same effing boots and arm things. Oh, and then try to pull her away when we're late for meeting you guys and take another half hour of getting her out then take fifteen minutes of a drive to my house hearing her _rant _about those same items? It's so aggravating" Rena informed sourly, ignoring the glare she was receiving from her younger sister. "So-o-o anything new and _exciting _happen while we were... held-back?"

Balmung shifted his weight while sitting in a tree that Kayane was standing at the bottom of, as her attention was on Rena, and crossed his arms after sending her a side glance from the corner of his eye when she turned around. "Some players were attacked by a data-monster and are both now in a coma. The monster disappeared right after the players were deleted," Balmung explained, lowering a hand to Kayane as she looked up the tree and began to climb up to the branch she usually sat in. "Officials are investigating still and are denying any access to the area where it happened."

"When did it happen? Do you know?" Anissa asked wide-eyed.

"Last night. While their entire families were asleep. They weren't found until early this morning -- half past four. Investigations started around six-thirty, when police confirmed that there comatose state was the result from the game they were playing."

"How old were they?" Anissa asked, looking up at her sister and Balmung.

Suddenly, Balmung looked extremely solemn, and angry at the same time. "Nine."Anissa gasped, along with Shugo and Rena, their faces turning pale at the thought of young children possibly having to fight a data monster. Data Monsters were far from being pretty things and fought coldly and unfairly; leaving its prey scarred even if it lived to tell.

"But- they-" Rena stuttered, trying to figure out how to say what was on her mind and how she felt.

"They were so young, I know," Balmung finished for her. "They just had their birthdays less than a week ago too."

"They were related. Twins, right?" Kayane asked. "One a boy and the other a girl."

"Yeah. Identical twins. Healthy and all. Someone in the game asked them to meet in that area at that time of night. It was a set-up. Someone directly led them into being attacked by that monster and being deleted."

At this, Anissa turned red in the face and Kayane's expression changed from interested and perceptive to an empty expression.

They both remembered all too well about being set-up. Several times. When they were three years younger, Anissa at the age of twelve and Kayane at fourteen, the same thing happened to them. Only they arrived early in the caution of having an upper hand on whomever it was that they were to meet.

And it had turned out to be the better thing to do.

A Data Monster arrived while they were hidden behind trees and the sisters had left the area before being spotted. After that, Kayane never let her sister go anywhere in the World without knowing exactly who it was she was meeting and if the person was trust-worthy as well.

"Who was it that asked them to go to that area?" Anissa asked, her voice serious and cold.

"No," Kayane interrupted. "What was the location of the area they were attacked in?"

"'Akai Nami'... 'Red Wave'."

"Fuck! It's the same place," Anissa stated. "And, no doubt, the same god damn person as well." Anissa spun around, ignoring the confused looks from Shugo, Rena, and Balmung as she began to nearly run over to the Chaos Gate.

She faintly heard Kayane land on the ground and follow her, and she could also hear that Balmung had probably jumped down a split second later. Shugo and Rena ran up to Anissa and blocked her way to the Chaos gate and watched as Kayane blew by her an instant later.

She'd almost gotten her hopes up when a blur of white followed the blur of black that was her sister.

Cursing vehemently in her mind, Kayane was momentarily stunned when Balmung took hold of her elbow from behind, turned her slightly while positioning himself in front of her, and using his free hand to push her backwards in the abdomen.

"Where do you think you're going?" he hissed to her, looking over at Anissa, who was stopped by the twins. "I told you that they won't allow access to anyone but officials."

"Won't allow. But that doesn't mean they're able to stop," Kayane challenged, jerking her elbow out of his grasp. "If they try to, or if they lay a hand on my sister or one of the twins, I swear, I will-"

"You won't do anything. Because if you do, you'll get suspended or maybe even expelled from the World! Besides, they aren't going to lay a hand on any of them because you guys aren't going to go near them or try to go to that area." He was half-expecting her to hand a rational comment back at him and proceed to the Gate, and half-expecting her comply quietly and walk away to sulk, or brood, he should say, in a tree. He didn't know which reaction he'd rather receive.

Clamping her mouth shut, unable to find any reason to overshadow Balmung's rationalization, Kayane brought in a deep breath and turned away. "Fine. I won't," she sighed finally, looking over her shoulder at her younger sister and her friends.

Deciding against heading for a dungeon and having Balmung follow her everyplace she went through the Chaos Gate, Kayane walked past the Sakura Tree that she usually sat in next to Balmung and made her way through the less explored area of Sakura Blossoms. It was untouched except for a few small pathways that she cared not enough about to find the cause of.

As much as she had learned to care for Balmung in the time that they'd known each other, and, like any other human on earth and in the World, she wanted him to be with her by choice, not to make sure she didn't go to that area and break her word, which he should at least know she wouldn't break. "It was personal," she muttered to herself, swinging her katana from side to side merely to keep her hands occupied both in and out of the World. "Society and the people in it are getter more and more heartless with each year," Kayane growled darkly, her feet making muffled quiet thuds in the dirt. "It's a wonder that people aren't locking themselves inside their homes twenty four hours a day and settling with a job at home."

**(-)**

"Damn," the three fifteen years olds said at the same time, their different pitched voices creating a chorus.

"Apparently it was something personal to her, Balmung," Rena informed.

"Yeah," Shugo agreed. "She would've just gone up into the tree again and glared at all of us if it wasn't that bad but--"

"She didn't."

The three of them knew Kayane well. Kayane had been an older sister to all three of them, and watched over them, ever since they'd been at least three year old children, when it had been a threesome for the first time.

And when it was something personal to Kayane, there was hardly anything stopping her unless a voice of reason came along and persuaded her against doing something that might have a negative consequence.

"Meaning, Balmung," Anissa continued, "You better go and apologize or she won't be in a good mood toward you for awhile." Anissa crossed her arms, as well as Shugo and Rena, all at the same time.

Raising an eyebrow at the three of them, he decided against going against their judgment. With a sigh, he traced the path Kayane took in his mind and followed. "Any words of advice I'll need for talking to her?" Balmung turned around and waited for a response.

Anissa was the only one that grinned while the other two chuckled nervously. "Don't lie. She'll shoot you down damn fast and you'll have to explain _that_ to her as well. Oh and if she curses, or says fuck, all I can say is watch yourself very carefully! She'll find something degrading to say to you and she'll makes sure it hurts. Trust me --"

"We all know."

Great. Wasn't planning on lying anyways or finding a way to stop her from letting whatever angry she has on me, but thanks, he thought.Recalling the sudden calm that Kayane had settled into when walking off, he wondered at just how offended she might have been. He always knew her to be an in-depth thinker and one to bring up many reasons, all of them understandable, for whatever the case may be.

Hell, he hoped he at least got back on her good side. For some reason, that was almost the one thing he wanted besides apologizing for offending her and having Kayane feel better, for lack of a better term. Having Kayane angry at him was unnerving, and he'll be damned if he knew the reason why it was.

_To Be Continued..._


	3. Chapter 3

"Apparently they didn't teach the kids Internet safety in school, even with all the craze about the World and the comatose victims of years past." She snorted. "Or maybe the World and C.C. Corporation is trying to keep the comatose news a secret in fear of losing players and money. Wouldn't put it past them, those rich fucks."

Kayane came across a clearing that she only knew about aside from her sister. Upon sighting the clearing, Kayane began to opt for turning back due to the sheer peacefulness in front of her, and chose to do so when deciding she was blowing everything out of proportion.

Giving a rough shake of the head to clear whatever thoughts of Akai Nami she had inside her mind while standing still, she then turned around and began to return to her companions, deciding to take a longer way when she cleared the more mild area of the forest and began to head into rougher thick.

For a moment, she wondered just why it seemed as if she couldn't see any farther ahead of herself than ten feet, but quickly lost the thought when a flash of silver and white was seen off to the side.

For a split moment, she brushed it off as imagination and trick of light as she was walking at a quick speed and almost lightly running, when Balmung seemed to suddenly appear in front of her before her mind could comprehend what it was in front of her.

As if just seeing her finally, he grabbed her shoulders when heading into a collision with her and held on as she actually ran into him and stumbled backwards.

Somehow in the motion of reaching out and grabbing Kayane's arm to prevent her from stumbling further away, he lost his own balance to a unleveled spot on the ground and fell forward, pushing her to the ground, wrapping an arm around her waist and putting out an arm to brace for hitting the ground in the process.

Partially, both Balmung and Kayane forgot the tension that should have been between them and stared at each other.

Kayane remembering it was a game; virtual reality, but silent nevertheless, and Balmung almost forgetting that it was virtual reality.

Being the first of the two to snap back to sensibility, but only by a bare second, Kayane pulled her elbows up behind her and turned her head away; Balmung following suit with releasing her pulling a foot underneath him to stand and removing his body from its position above her.

"Balmung?" It was more of a statement than a rhetorical question. "You followed me."

"Wasn't too difficult," Balmung muttered to her.

Part of her wanted to snap at him, the part of her that always wanted to snap to whomever made a snide remark to her, and another part wanted to somehow convince him to leave, and one other wanted to apologize and somehow make him stay. The side seeking solitude won the battle of being decided. "I want to be alone."

"Don't you think I know that?" Balmung returned, his tone taking on what seemed to be more than just slightly aggravated, his face less than a foot away from hers. "Thanks to your sister and the twins, I'm here, probably disturbing more than you probably expected. They said you were offended, for whatever reason I don't know and am sure that you won't tell me, and that I should apologize to you. But, I don't know what I should apologize for."

"Not trusting my judgment, perhaps," Kayane suggested, crossing her arms. Why was Balmung even there? Who was he to listen to the demands of fifteen year olds. "I want some privacy, at this moment, to be able to concern only myself in my thoughts. And to think."

"Think?" he repeated. "Think about what? How you're going to get yourself suspended by forcing your way to Akai Nami?" he questioned. He watched as she straightened up

"No," Kayane replied, hardly able to sound angry or disturbed as she wished."I just want to be alone. I like being alone, if it hasn't been already evident in the past, and I don't need to explain because right now, I'm not in the mood too," she said to him evenly.

Apologizing to her like he'd first followed her for seemed to be the last thing she'd accept him to do. "Fine, I'll leave you in peace now," Balmung replied, backing away as he spoke and smiled truthfully when Kayane blinked twice at him in unconcealed surprise.

Suddenly, the part of Kayane that had wanted to apologize to him and somehow persuade him discreetly to stay came back with a vengeance that rose to the top. Watching the wings resting over his retreating back almost as if a cloak, partially wishing she had wings of her own for her avatar to admire herself, she took in a deeper breath than she intended, undoubtedly loud enough to reach Balmung's ears in her own opinion, she decided for the apology session. Well, the apology session she was almost sure that would occur due to Balmung's proud, but also modest behavior as well as her own stubborn and soft, far too soft in her opinion, character.

"Balmung, wait a second," she sighed almost tiredly when he was nearly disappearing behind Sakura Blossoms as she began to follow. "I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention to--"

"It's okay, I understand. Don't be sorry," he denied softly after barely hearing her talk. He almost believed that it was of some difficulty that she was apologizing to him. Part of him rationalized that she was probably on the reasonable side of a conversation nearly all of the time and had the apologies come her way, instead of originating from her.

Balmung looked down at Kayane, she was nearly two-thirds of a foot shorter than him, eight inches almost. "There isn't anything for you to be sorry about… I should have considered the reasons for your actions," he said softly, to where Kayane almost couldn't hear him clearly. In a sudden spur of impulse that he didn't quite understand, Balmung reached his hand up from resting slack by his side and brushed his fingers along Kayane's cheek.

Part of him reasoned that the action only furthered his sincerity, another rationalized that it was to merely see if she'd even let him, and another told him he had deeper intentions that lied beyond the occasional gestures of friendship.

His sanity, pride, and stubbornness went with the first two and rejected the latter almost immediately.

Regardless of whatever reason he may have had inside of him for the motion, his hand jerked back quickly, as if receiving a shock from just barely touching her, upon coming to the realization of what, exactly, he was doing.

He was what would be oblivious to way Alyssa in the non virtual world froze and to her avatar Kayane froze upon seeing his hand come near her face.

Swallowing, she narrowed her eyes at the motion and merely went unresponsive to the event. While she was the last person to probably admit it for fear of worrying the others and receiving questions she'd rather not answer, Kayane was the last person that was used to close contact with her in a more than brotherly/sisterly way, and her instincts told her that he wasn't acting upon her as a brother.

An awkward silence hung between them for awhile before Anissa, Rena and Shugo burst out of the trees, all three of them looking panicked and red from running. "What happened?" Shugo asked breathlessly. "We realized you two are real stubborn and sort of forgot you two won't really make amends…"

Kayane looked away from Balmung's eyes, to Anissa then Rena and finally Shugo, their names sounding in her head clearly. "You thought wrong. We're fine." With those as her parting words, Kayane sent a side glance to Balmung and walked past her sister and the twins calmly, as if nothing to be alarmed or notified of has taken place.

Anissa, Shugo and Rena stared in the direction that Kayane left. All at once, they turned back to Balmung. "What happened?" they all asked, Anissa setting her hand on her hip, Shugo craning his neck out in curiosity, and Rena shifting her weight from her leg to the other in order to show they weren't taking 'nothing happened' or 'none of your business' as an answer.

"We talked, we clarified what happened, we apologized to each other, then you came." Shrugging, Balmung left after those words and left the three fifteen year olds confused, not making any sense out of what he had just said.

Anissa summed up what the three of them thought at the same time, in a frustrated howl. _"Huh?"_ Anissa looked over at Rena then to her other side, up at Shugo and threw her hands up in the air exasperatedly. "That doesn't tell us one mother fucking thing!"

**(-)**

A dark sinister aura hung over the man as he watched the event between the famed Balmung and the girl, or young woman, he would prefer to call her, that was Kayane. He sneered at the way the girl's aura darkened when coming in collision with the white winged warrior, almost as if to attack what had ran into her, then seemed change through a myriad of colors in confusion and fear, but also stubbornness. He sneered even more, and with more delight, when she became almost surrounded by whatever power of aura he saw because of the wariness and caution. Her essence had nearly turned black around her, at that self protectiveness. Then, as what he would assume was unsureness, changed the shape to a more flowing one as she fought to the words to apologize to him.

Then arrived her sister.

Who is more powerful? the man asked himself. Anissa, he mused, hearing her name said in Kayane's mind, the strength of her powers, like her sister's, though not as controlled but more responsive and brash, were controlled mostly by her emotions. Such a rare trait it was, these days, and a much more valuable asset as well.

"I think I will take joy in recruiting them to my side. They might actually be of some use when I receive them and a challenge to get as well."

**(-)**

When Anissa arrived at the area she concluded to be where her sister had taken Anissa herself would call refuge, Kayane was looking at a lake, most likely the reflection of the moon on the lake to be more accurate, and not a signal was made of acknowledgment to Anissa. Half the time, Anissa wondered if there was ever a moment when her sister didn't know of someone's presence among her. Not even when Kayane was in the process of a defeating a monster, though in that case, Anissa understood completely the reason, Kayane seemed to notice right away when another was there and Anissa suspected it to be because her sister was about as aware of her surroundings and alert as she could possibly be.

But, in all her knowledge, Anissa still was never sure of whether to speak up first and announce her presence or just let her sister do the motions of guiding her through whatever moment it was.

Nevertheless, the silence was putting Anissa's nerves into a restless mood. "Hey," Anissa greeted, nearing her sister then sitting down hesitantly when no reply came. "Suppity?" she asked, trying to lighten the mood, as she threw the small rock into the lake, sending ripples through the water and distorting the moon's shape.

"Zippo," Kayane replied, sounding more bitter and secretive than she had intentioned for the usual jibe response to her sister's more nervous mannerism. "You?"

"Same." Anissa sighed; she doubted that the conversation was going to get any better than it was at that precise moment. Her sister was too perceptive, and knew her too well, and Anissa barely hoped for the notion that Kayane would willingly hand out information.

"How badly?" Kayane asked suddenly and almost obligingly, causing the younger twin blade to start unstably.

Anissa looked over at Kayane, seeing that she was staring in the completely opposite direction from her, not straight ahead like she usually did. Kayane raised her hand up to her face and pulled back a strand of her dark violet hair, looking as if it was black with violet highlights in the moonlight. "Want to know what?"

"Not in the mood, Anissa," her voice the same as it was a moment ago, only a bit more serious to Anissa's remark.

Anissa looked away, ashamed that her intentions could be seen so easily, even if it was her sister who was reading them. "Really badly. You looked so- so- different when we found you and Balmung. I'm afraid it was insecurity or fear. I know it's just a game but you're voice sort of led me on, I guess." Anissa pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. "I just wanna know what happened so I can understand."

"Balmung followed me, and we talked, you know that much, I'm sure." Kayane paused, crossing her legs and leaning on her knees. "When I reached our clearing, I turned back after a minute or so, and about halfway back to you all, still in the brush, Balmung and I collided. We both were walking fast and hardly had time to react to each other's presence and ran into each other. I guess you could say he was surprised, but when I was stumbling backwards, he grabbed me and fell with me. We let go, stood, conversed, then along came you and the twins while we were apologizing."

"You left, thinking it was your best escape from him because you didn't think he would follow you with three pairs of eyes watching him," Anissa finished for her, guessing the rest from what she had just been told. All she received was a slight tilt of the head and assumed she was right on some part. "So… do you like him?"

Gods, she had to ask.

Kayane's brow furrowed, and she turned her head around to look at her younger sister calculatingly and thoughtfully, as if just then considering the idea. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I don't have your confirmation if whether you do or don't like him so I am asking to be sure," she remarked, feeling proud at how she had suddenly come up with her answer. For the most part, it was true but only in a more sophisticated and 'smart ass' tone that her sister often had to win arguments.

Kayane glared at her quite coldly. Damn, she thought. I hate when she does that little imitation of my tone. I can't beat myself. "How are you to be sure that I know the answer to the question myself"

Anissa growled without meaning to. The worst thing about having two stubborn parents was that no matter what, their children were just as stubborn, if not twice as much, and at that moment, it seemed like most of their stubbornness had been passed down to Kayane mostly. "Guess then! Give me your opinion on what you think it might be 'cause to get you need to give! If you want me to tell you anything anymore and not leave you in the dark about things, which I know you really don't like, you have to tell me things and not leave me in the dark about things!" she yelled, losing her patience and pulling, what she called, the '_whiny little sister card'._

It _never_ seemed to lose it's affect on Kayane and didn't fail then.

"Fine," Kayane replied in a surprised tone, narrowing her eyes at her sister dangerously almost, but Anissa knew it held no threat except for maybe losing a couple CDs for awhile and a couple of flat out NOs whenever she asked Kayane for something. "My opinion," she began, standing up sharply, and brushing off the back of her legs and her hands before turning around to walk away. "is that I do on some level, okay? He's not nosy, doesn't hang on girls, isn't very boastful of his antics, doesn't describe every detail of his antics, or even brings them up, for that matter, he's acts what I believe to be himself. He treats you and the twins like normal people, and doesn't talk more than necessary."

If Anissa had been standing, she would've fell backward to the ground from what she heard. Anissa stared up at her sister, her eyes wide with surprise and slight shock. Kayane had just told her not only that she liked Balmung but all the things he did that she liked, or the things that he didn't do, rather, which was more than she asked for but, hey, she was in no way complaining.

"Whoa," she managed to murmur in a somewhat dazed and awed voice.

Kayane couldn't hold back a roll of her eyes at the look on her younger sister's face. It was almost as if she was a five year old child again, confused and not understanding or catching a word she said, but nodding anyways.

She smiled, Anissa never seemed to fail in making her feel the least bit better. All she hoped for then, was that Anissa accepted whatever she had said she felt about him. Her father would most likely ask who it was and say that Balmung could actually be a fifty-seven year old man, looking for teenage girls to kidnap and rape or kill. And her friends, if she could call them that in actuality, would crowd around her, asking too many questions at once that she couldn't answer nor wanted to answer.

"And I thought you didn't have a particular type of guy you favored over all the rest," Anissa muttered loudly enough for Kayane to hear and frown at. "When did you start liking him?"

Anissa was asking more questions. She approved and accepted it. "You never start to like someone. You like the person as a friend first, then you like the person more, and then you realize that you like the person more than before, so there is no determined time to start to like a person, and there is no determinate time I started to likehim," Kayane informed, knowing if someone thought hard enough about what she'd just said, it'd make no sense but, then again, Anissa never really thought hard about things and would just assume that Kayane was being a smart ass to her again.

"Gee, that was a specific answer," Anissa snapped. "Let's go. I think I should get around some people before you go all smart talk and kill me by confusing me so badly."

Kayane laughed, waiting for Anissa to stand and come to her side so they could walk back together. "Sure," Kayane drawled, rolling her eyes. "Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't."

"We'll see," Kayane smiled, Anissa saying it at the same time as she did.

They both teleported back to Sakura Blossoms and met up with Shugo and Rena, everything seemingly back to normal.

**(-)**

The man watched Kayane and Anissa once again, smiling at the looks that passed between the two of them at points in almost unison. Yes, indeed, together, the two of them were very powerful. Without a doubt, they could destroy everything that came their way together. He watched with a fanged grin on his face when they both returned to the place called 'Sakura Blossoms'. He would have to make sure he saw them both in a battle individually and with them working together using teamwork, just the two of them.

"Kuroi. Make sure these two ladies meet with three of my associates in a battle. Have one go after the silver haired one, Anissa, when she is alone, another for the older one, Kayane, also by herself, and one for the both of them, when it is just the two of them. I want to see how well they fight and adapt to spontaneous situations," he ordered to one of two people in a dark corner of the room, standing as if they'd both been awaiting orders like the one he had just given.

Kuroi stepped out of the shadows, sporting black pants and a black shirt, contrasting with the icy blue of his eyes and the color of his short hair, looking almost white instead of ice. His heavy-blade was strapped on his back with a brown leather strap, a crimson ribbon winding around the dark handle of the blade, symboling blood and something more to him than he cared to actually acknowledge deeply into. "Yes, lord Shi." Kuroi turned and teleported out the room.

"Kara no," he called to the other person, which happened to be female. "Learn more about these two girls."

"Yes, sir." The woman bowed, her long black braided hair falling over her shoulder, looking the color of drying blood. She wore loose clothing colored a dark maroon, with a crescent necklace around her neck. Her eyes were the same color as her clothing, dark enough to almost be mistaken as black in contrast to her slightly pale skin. She, too, teleported away to do as she was ordered.

**(-)**

Kuroi walked silently into the lair of one of the most dangerous monsters of the World, Hitori de, Hitori for short. Kuroi knew exactly what three associates his lord had been talking about when he was given the order. Hitori de, the weakest of the three, Shizuka na, the second in strength and Korosu, the worst and most deadly.

"Hitori de," he called, his deep and commanding voice an echo throughout the cave that seemed haunted.

As if expecting Kuroi's arrival, Hitori de, a wolf monster, walked out of the shadows less than twenty feet away and bowed respectfully to Kuroi. It stood nine feet tall and stood on its hind legs. His black fur making his body seem almost invisible in the dark cave. Hitori wore a collar around its neck, crimson in color.

"Master Kuroi, what brings you here?" he murmured quietly, his red eyes meeting Kuroi's ice ones as he stood to face him.

"I have come as a request for you assistance. Lord Shi wishes to use your abilities in testing a young girl's strength," Kuroi replied, keeping his hands clasped loosely and professionally behind his back. "Do you accept?"

"Why of course, anything for my lord." Hitori de unsheathed a blade from on the wall with his almost human like paws and seemed to admire its excellence. "Tell me. Who exactly is this girl? And why does lord Shi wish for me to test her strengths?" he asked, looking down at Kuroi, seeing as he was over two and a half feet taller.

"This girl is called Anissa. She is of silver hair, violet eyes and clothing. A twin-blade. And for why her strengths he wants to be tested by you, I cannot reveal. It is confidential and makes no difference as to how or why you do your job," Kuroi informed, his hands coming around from clasped behind his back to cross over his chest in the front. "He is watching you, do not fail him. Do not kill her, only test her." Kuroi disappeared a second after, nodding his head slightly in a farewell.

**(-)**

Kara no walked around Sakura Blossoms, getting to know the area and its feel. She had to admit, she liked the place. It was comfortable and not too conspicuous for a place to meet friends or just to be for no ulterior motive. Now, all she had to do was meet one of the sisters, become friends with her and then learn all there was to know about her and the other sister…

…"Did not!"

"Did."

"Did not!

Kara no turned around, hearing an argument behind her, beyond a cluster of trees, and narrowed her eyes at the way the voices nearly caused her to do more than just flinch. The voices sounded as if they could be menacingly dark and low for one moment, and Kara would have sworn that one already sounded just that at that moment, then in the best possibly bubbly giggle the next.

"No, I did not!" Anissa shouted, stomping her foot loudly to prove her point. "It was not me!"

"Was," Kayane deadpanned, knowing that Anissa was getting very aggravated.

"Was not!" Anissa snapped, getting frustrated, nearly on the verge of whirling around and screaming in her face.

"Was."

"I didn't do it!"

"Did."

"Did not!"

"Did not!" Kayane repeated, making sure her voice sounded almost exactly like Anissa's.

"Did too!" Anissa screeched, tired of debating with her sister after half an hour of it non-stop. Anissa froze in her tracks, noticing something peculiar about the way Kayane had begun to chuckle a little harder than the soft giggle of before. "Wait! I didn't!"

"So, you did or didn't not?" Kayane asked, looking up at Balmung after she spoke. She could hear him trying to keep quiet with his laughing but it wasn't really proving to be successful.

"I didn't not!" Anissa growled, figuring Kayane would believe her finally.

"Anissa!" both Shugo and Rena shouted. They were on Anissa's side on the argument, but they couldn't help a laugh every now and then at Anissa's sheer stupidity. Not to mention how much Anissa was oblivious to the fact that Kayane was toying with her. "You just said that you did!"

"No, I didn't! I said I didn't… not…" she replied, trailing off slowly. She reeled on Kayane once more when she understood what they meant. "Oh, My G-- Mother fuck -- Hey!"

"You made the mistake," Kayane chided quickly, throwing her hands up in the air innocently, and sending her sister a positive look. "Besides, I know it wasn't you."

"You made me make the- wait, you know it was- then why are saying I _did?_"

"For fun," Kayane and Balmung replied simultaneously.

Anissa shrunk back at the combined voices of the two most powerful and respected people she knew in the World. Not cool, having them both on a side opposite of her. "I didn't think it was fun! I thought you didn't believe your little sister! That you couldn't tell when I was telling you the truth!"

Kayane let out a frustrated and amused growl as she sighed and threw her hands up in the air incredulously. "How and when would I not know?" Kayane rolled her eyes with a smile and walked around the cluster if trees they had stopped at when Anissa had first become confused.

Anissa crossed her arms let out an angry huff at her sister. "Smart-assed, cocky and stubborn, that is what she is." She looked up from the ground when Kayane spoke on the other-side, only not to her, the twins or to Balmung.

"Who are you?" she had said.

Almost instantly, the four of them were over on the other side to find Kayane looking at a girl that looked almost like her. They had the same frame, same face almost except for the slight difference in eye color and hair.

"Kara. Who are you?"

"Kayane," she replied warily. They looked at each other, not moving within ten feet of each other. Kara no also wielded a katana, the handle decorated with a crimson ribbon circling it.

Anissa stepped up beside Kayane and Balmung went on the other side, Shugo and Rena to Anissa's left. "I'm Anissa," she said in a friendly way. "It's nice to meet you."

"And I'm Shugo, this is Rena and that's Balmung." Shugo walked up to Kara and held out his hand in an offer to shake. Kara took it hesitantly, her eyes not leaving Kayane's for a moment.

"It's nice to meet you all too," she said in the most energetic and harmless voice she could muster. She didn't expect Kayane to look almost like a twin to her, just maybe a small bit alike. If she changed into clothes that were the same as Kayane's, she would barely look any different from her. The only difference was eye and hair color, clothes could be changed.

Kayane looked through the corner of her eye to look at Balmung when he took her elbow in his hand when Kara had taken a step toward them. She guessed he was either uncomfortable or he didn't like the fact that she and Kara looked like twins and could probably not tell the difference if they switched, or possibly just expecting Kayane to become over protective and reveal their uneasiness to the woman by pulling Anissa back. "Excuse me," she interrupted. "Balmung and I have to go, I told a friend of mine that we would meet her somewhere." She looked over at Anissa warningly, telling her silently that it was time that she, too, left for elsewhere.

"Yeah, and I have to go soccer practice, and so does Anissa, right?" Shugo intervened, holding Anissa's arm in his hand and pulling her away. "And don't you have to get off now, too, Rena?"

Rena stared at Shugo confused, unsure of what they were doing, leaving Kara just after they met her. She decided to go along with it, only because Balmung and Kayane had left as well. "Yeah, my mom is coming home in a few minutes and we are going to go shopping for my friends birthday." Rena took hold of Anissa's other arm and she and Shugo pulled Anissa away and went to the Chaos gate as Balmung and Kayane led them there.

"Uh, why did we just leave her like that?" Rena asked after they arrived at Midori Willows.

"I don't trust her," both Kayane and Balmung answered at the same time, Kayane's elbow still in Balmung's hand as he, most likely subconsciously, kept her close to him.

Shugo looked down at their hands, sensing something was unusual with the way the two of them were standing really close to each other after they had a fight less than twenty-four hours ago, and saw the contact that was apparently going unnoticed between them. He grinned, nudging Anissa in the ribs roughly and quickly, hoping she would see it too and that Rena would keep asking questions.

The quick, sudden gasp from Anissa informed Shugo that she had seen it just before Kayane had looked down and discreetly dislodged her arm from his grasp. Shugo glanced at her to see her face and grinned when he saw the wide smile on the lips of the silver haired female beside him. Anissa turned to him and smiled happily, feeling delight for her sister and the agitation of knowing something no else did. "Come on, I _really_ need to tell you something," she said urgently but in a light mood.

Anissa pulled Shugo away from the talking trio that was Kayane, Balmung, and Rena, grinning all the while as they went unnoticed. They went behind a cluster of weeping willows barely in time before Anissa began whispering feverishly.

* * *

Cliché moment major when Balmung and Kayane met up after Kayane went off, but you know what? I want it that way, so just deals.

And uh… I didn't like the hand thing between Kayane and Balmung that I had originally because it just seems to me that Kayane doesn't seem like the type to hold hands with someone, seeing as she is my own character, and not to mention Balmung, who seems to just be content with taking someone's elbow, or arm, in my opinion. If you don't like the change, too freaking bad. I'm the author(ess), and I don't write to please ya'll (points at you at the computer/phone), I write cause I want to write, and that's how it is.

Cheers,  
Ice.


	4. Chapter 4

Shugo stared at Anissa for the longest time, digesting the latest information she had given him. Kayane liked Balmung. Kayane, the quiet, never talking, cold, emotionless, glaring, Kayane who didn't like him for the first seven years they had known each other after Anissa had introduced them when he was only five and Kayane was seven, liked _Balmung_. What was wrong with the World now? he asked himself, shaking his head miserably.

"Are fucking kidding me?" Shugo asked, eyes wide in disbelief. "Kayane! No, way!"

Anissa chuckled. Shugo was cute when he was confused and shocked. "Yes, way. She told me herself."

"No way. She had to be kidding. She had to be testing you, something, _anything _besides telling you the truth!"

Anissa glared at him. "Why does she have to be testing me or kidding? Can't she like someone?"

"I don't know! How would I know! Kayane doesn't tell me stuff like that!"

Kayane froze in midspeech, overhearing Shugo's mumbled shouts. She couldn't understand it but had the feeling it concerned her.

"Kayane, you ok?" Balmung asked, worried. He set his hand on the small of her back, the instinctive urge to hold and protect her of something was wrong was over powering.

Kayane, although she knew it was Balmung, jerked away from his touch. She didn't like to be touched, even if it was in a virtual game. Too many secrets that she hid were on her body and she didn't want people, especially someone like Balmung, to find them. "Shh…" She held a finger up to her lips, not even glancing at Balmung to acknowledge that she knew she pulled away from him.

Balmung looked down at Rena, confused. What the hell was going on? And where the hell were Anissa and Shugo?

Kayane walked over to the cluster of Weeping willows stealthily.

"So? That doesn't mean you can't trust me when I say something! I know her better than anyone, and I would know when she was lying to me, Shugo!"

Balmung came up behind Kayane and listened as well.

"Be honest, Anissa! Do you seriously think Kayane, of all people, would like someone! Kayane does not have a crush on-"

Shugo never finished his sentence. Kayane had dove forward, realizing what the topic of discussion was, and slapped her hands over his mouth.

"Kayane!" Anissa shrieked, both in surprise and at the way Kayane had attacked Shugo. "Get off him! It isn't like he's over here to hear him say it!" she tried to reason, attacking her sister to get her off of her friend.

Kayane was about say that Balmung was right there but, then, that would tell Balmung that he was her crush . "Why did you tell him?" she shouted instead, eyes on the verge of changing to black. She backed away from Shugo and glared at Anissa when she landed on top of him. "It was a fuckin secret, Anissa! I was scared to tell all of my friends because I thought they spread the word to everyone but trusted you because you always could keep things I told you to yourself! And what do you do? You tell HIM of all people! I would have understood if you told my friends but… Anissa…" Kayane stalked away, ending the conversation. She did not want to fight with her sister at the moment.

"Hey! What's so wrong bout telling Shugo your crush! He's my best friend! What do you expect, I tell him everything! Even stuff I don't tell you! I trust him more than you because he knows me better! He's been with me more than _you _have! You are always at work or something, he comes over to my house when I call him after Mom makes me mad or something but you, I can only call you on the phone! Even then, I can't talk for long because you are on your shift or whatever the case is at the time!" she roared at Kayane's retreating back. She huffed almost triumphantly when Kayane's form froze in mid-step. After waiting for over more than a few seconds, she frowned, expecting Kayane to shout back, not complete silence. All sound had disappeared and the loud beating of her heart sounded in her ear. When she didn't her heart in her ears, she realized that it wasn't completely silent. Kayane's breathing was loud and heavy. Either Kayane was very pissed and trying to calm herself or she extremly hurt, trying not to let it show.

"Kayane?" Rena spoke for the first time since Kayane walked away from her and Balmung. "Are you okay?" Hesitantly, Rena started to walk toward Kayane, her arm extended cautiously to help.

"Don't. Touch. Me." Kayane's voice was low, threatening with a hint of finality, nearly jumping away when Rena's fingertips brushed the back of her arm barely.

Anissa glared at Kayane still. "Don't talk to Rena like that! She only wants to help!" she snapped coldly. It seemed everything Kayane did was either surprising her or making her angry. Right now, it was all making her very, very pissed.

Kayane said nothing, just standing a few feet away from Rena, her head turned away, gazing into the distance. "I don't give a shit, Anissa." With that, she left elsewhere.

"What did you say that for!"

"Wah!" Anissa jumped back in surprise and fell over a root of a tree. "Say what?"

Both Shugo and Rena were glaring at her the best they could. It was hard considering Anissa usually got carried away in the moment of things. "Say those things to Kayane!"

"Oh." Anissa frowned, "Because she deserved it! And besides, she wants me to tell her the truth, so I did!"

Even Shugo had to be angry at her, depite how adorable her face looked when she was angry at her sister. "You could have said nicer instead of shouting and yelling at her! And it is your fault this all started! She trusted you and you told me, I apreciate it and all but, you should have thought of Kayane first!" Shugo frowned when Anissa went from angry to sorry.

"I'm sorry, but, I had to tell you, otherwise the moment would have been ruined, but it was still ruined." Anissa looked up at Rena and Shugo. "And now, since it was me and I said those… 'you aren't there' stuff, she isn't gonna talk to me or anyone for a good month. She'll just nod, shrug or something and will be in her room in her spare time listening to music. And now, she won't let Dad hand her anything to avoid contact with him and me…"

"And you, what?"

"She'll look at me then walk away like I don't exist. It'll be complete silence for sure."

"She won't talk at all? Not even at her job?" Balmung asked, as if requesting information he needed to know in order to do something.

"Well, not exactly." Anissa, Shugo and Rena all exchanged glances, Rena smiling, the edges of Shugo's mouth quirked up barely in amusement and Anissa grinning. "She sings at a bar and is a bartender, but she mostly sings, very well too." Anissa was proud of her sister for that fact. Play Kayane a song once all the way through and Kayane knew the lyrics, notes and timing of the song already. Plus, she was an unbelievable guitarist. Where did everyone think Anissa got her talent from? Kayane taught her everything and tutored her in everything she wanted help in.

"Sings?" Balmung's eyes widened quite noticeably. "You're kidding. I can barely get a ten sentence conversation out of her and you are telling me she gets up on a stage and sings?"

"Yep, where do you think I learned how to sing?" Anissa boasted, sticking her nose up in the air.

"Or me?" Rena butted in.

"And where do you think I learned to play the guitar so damn well? I'm almost as good as she is!" Shugo added, stepping in front of Rena and Anissa.

"Hey, move over, attention pig!" Anissa laughed, jumping on his back. "I'm pretty good too!"

"Not as good as me!" Shugo shouted playfully, glad to see Anissa was back to herself, and slipping his arms under the back of her knees. He Spun around with Anissa on his back, giggling almost wildly and dizzily.

"No, I'm not as good as you!" she shouted, whacking him in the side of the head. "I'm better than you!"

"Hey! Don't forget about me! I can beat all of you at guitars!"

Anissa and Shugo froze. "Beat us at guitars?" they echoed, confused.

"You know what I mean!" Rena sighed loudly. She ran over to them and they both jumped back, laughing. "No, no tag!" Rena whined.

"Not it!" Anissa shouted, turning and running wildly from both Shugo and Rena.

Shugo cried out the same and went opposite from Rena. "Can't catch me, nope, not me!" Shugo taunted, using the same line Anissa would use when she was getting cocky.

"Hey! My line!" Anissa objected. "Only I can say that!"

The three ran wild in Midori Willows, forgetting the earlier events of the day including meeting the strange woman.

Balmung, after only about a minute of watching them run free, he went after Kayane.

He found her sitting in an area, one at night and with high mountains and nightflowers blowing in a gentle breeze. She had her knees pulled up her chest, arms crossed on top and forehead lying on her forearms. She wasn't moving, except for the almost steady breathing.

"Kayane?" Balmung whispered to avoid surprising her. She didn't acknowledge him but the way her breath hitched in mid breath told him she knew he was there. He walked over to her side and sat down next to her. "Hey, you alright?" he said in a gentle voice, leaning over and setting her arm around her shoulders to embrace her.

Kayane fought the urge to move away, telling herself over and over in her mind that it was a game and couldn't really feel her. Still, she didn't trust herself to speak and said nothing.

Balmung's eyes widened, surprised she was letting herself being touched, let alone held almost. "Anissa didn't mean what she said, Kayane."

"Yes, she meant it. I can tell when she lies and doesn't lie. Even though she was angry, she was telling the truth."

Kayane's voice was so low, Balmung almost didn't hear it, barely above a whisper. Balmung had lost all the words he had to say. Kayane was right about her sister, as much as Kayane didn't like it. "Are you going to shut her out now?" he asked, knowing that with Kayane, honesty was best, she could read anyone's expressions easily. His were only a bit harder, but still easily enough read.

She shrugged stiffly.

"What about everyone else? Shugo, Rena, your mother and father, I mean."

Kayane stopped breathing. "My mother is already shut out. She shut me out so I will do the same. She doesn't even know the first thing about me, just how I look, since I look almost exactly like her. I haven't spoken to her since the day our parents went to court for divorce, seven years ago. Father will barely see me, same goes with Shugo, and Rena, I don't know," she replied, her teeth grinding together at the thought of her mother.

Balmung left the topic well alone, hearing the almost subtle hint that she didn't want to talk about it.

"Guys!"

Shugo and Rena came running toward them, frantic looks on their faces.

"Say that Anissa is with you!" Shugo shouted, a full ten feet ahead of Rena.

"Why, what happened?" Kayane demanded, standing up in alarm.

"We can't find her. We were playing tag and both Rena and I saw her teleport somewhere. She didn't look like she knew what was going on when she did," Shugo explained.

"She isn't in our party anymore," Kayane murmured, teleporting back to Midori Willows. Balmung, Shugo and Rena followed.

Anissa walked around, un-sure of what was happening. Wasn't she just playing tag with her two best friends in Midori Willows? She swore she was, even if she hit her head somehow at sometime. "Shugo, Rena, this isn't funny! If you think this is some kind of joke, making me teleport somewhere like this, I ain't laughing!"

"Oh, this isn't a joke, little girl. They have nothing to do with this."

Anissa's heart skipped a beat and she spun around in surprise. A monster. It talked to her. And it wasn't even a Data monster either. She was sure she hit her head, and hard. "Di-"

"Yes, child, I talked," 'it' replied.

"How? And why aren't your facts listed? Not even your name!"

"Because I am no ordinary monster, I am one-of-kind. I am not listed in the monster database of the World because I am not a monster created for the World. I have been ordered by my lord to attack you."

Anissa scowled. "Bring it on, then." She un-sheathed her twin-blades and stood ready to battle. So there was a new danger in the World, and this… thing… was one of it's associates. She was going to get her answers now.

**A/N: There ya go, R&R please, it would be appreciated, especially with ways on how I could improve.  
--BTI**


	5. Chapter 5

The monster's mouth seemed to have curved into what would've been called a smile. "Quick aren't you? But I take that only refers to action."

Anissa paused for a moment, looking as if she was waiting for him to attack, instead of trying to make sense of what he said. Before she could help it, she spoke loudly in anger, realizing the meaning. "Not true!"

The monster attacked her as soon as she finished speaking, in a blur behind her and bringing one of it's claws down toward her back. Anissa lept forward and missed his claws barely, landing in a heap on the ground. Experiencedly, she sprung up off the ground and attaced the monster in return as it pried its claws from the ground.

"You cheat!" she shouted, pulling a round-house kick against the face, combined with one of her twin blade attacks, triple X.

"I know I do, dear Anissa. Otherwise, I wouldn't be a very good 'villan', would I?"

"How do you know my name!" she shrieked, freezing in her running steps.

"By all means, it is only necessary to know the name of my victims, so it is only natural that I know yours. If you would like to know the name of your killer, it is Hitori de."

"Alone. Why is that your name?" Anissa asked.

A moment later, she felt stupid for asking such a question like that.

"I take pride is always attacking while my victims are alone, surprising them and catching them while they aren't prepared." He sneered, seeing that Anissa had paled when he informed her of the reason he was Hitori de.

"Your victims? How many of them have you killed?" Anissa asked him softly, her voice no longer rash and angry but solemn and sad.

"Many," he answered simply, rolling his eyes quite discreetly and closing them in agitation. Too many questions the girl was asking, a loudmouth victim that stayed a loudmouth when under pressure of life and death. He hoped this girl was more perceptive along with the ability to stay herself in battle. Hitori De wished that he had gotten the older sibling instead to attack, maybe then he would have been freed instead of killed, despite the fact the older was the more powerful.

Hitori De shifted his weight to his other hind leg, scratching at his collar as he listened to Anissa's running footsteps approaching him quite rapidly on her leather boots. He heard the metallic friction of her twin blades when she removed them from their metal holders at her waist. The fabric of her clothes brushing together in soft friction and the faint beat of the girl's heart beating quickly with anticipationa dn adrenaline. The short, quick, quiet breaths she took as she tried her best to be stealthy. She was failing miserably. She lashed out at her, his claws sending lethal waves of dark blue energy toward her. There was no way she could miss them. She was down.

"You can't tell me you assumed I was weak!" Anissa shouted, kicking Hitori De hard in the stomach, watching as he started to double over in pain then turned to look at her coldly. Creepy, she thought. How can you glare at someone coldly with blood red eyes when they look like they are on fire?

"Easy, you little wench, you just look at them with the rage you feel!" he roared, grasping her neck when she was momentarily stunned by his voice. The naive little girl thought she had knocked the air out of him.

...What a foolish girl...

"That -- that does not -- doesn'tmake _any_ sense!" Anissa struggled to breathe. Hitori de's hold on her neck was tight, tighter than she thought it would have been. She had already lost most of the feeling of her neck and she could feel her face getting tight, his grip was so hard.

"Like you will strike them down hard, the one that will release them from this world and onto to the next life."

Anissa, if she had been able to control whether air went into her lungs or not, would've stopped breathing. He had a veiw on what happen to people after they died, or passed away. Data doesn't think, it doesn't live, and it can't be programmed to.He wasn't a monster controlled by data programs, he was controlled by a human, someone alive and truly with a mind of its own. She wanted to spill out the contents of her lunch in real life but, that would only result in getting herself and, not to mention, Kayane's floor covered in bile that she would have to clean up, and divert her attention away from Hitori. How was he able to strangle her in real life?

"Who- are you?" she asked hoarsely, her hands pulling at his claws pricking the skin of her neck painfully through the numbness that was increasing slowly.

"I told you,its Hitori De, dear girl." He sneered, loosening his hand a fraction so the girl could have some air while still being at his mercy. Any normal data monster wouldn't have the power he had, to affect the real body of the player like he was at the moment. Thanks to his lord, he wore the crimson ribbon that allowed him to do so around his neck, yet he still hated it with all the power it gave him.

"No, I meant your real name. Your-- human… name…" she grunted, kicking her feet, hoping to make contact with any part of his body and be freed. Anissa's foot connected with Hitori De's neck and a shot of almost numbing pain ran up her leg when her foot touched the ribbon collar. Apparently, pain jolted through Hitori De as well, seeing as he released her neck with a howl and fell to the ground clutching the collar hatefully.

"What is that?" Anissa mumbled, wincing over her now tingling leg. It felt as if her leg was asleep and refusing to be awoken, fighting back against the needles poking everywhere. "Why did it do that? And how?" Anissa held her head with one hand, feeling extremely lightheaded with all the oxygen that had rushed up to her brain and began to sing and spin with utterrelief.

"You wench, how did you do that?" Hitori De seemed clueless as to how she was able to make the collar feel threatened by her touch. Yes, the collar threatened by her. That was the side-effect. If the collar felt pressure or power that was enough to break it, a wave of pain shot through whatever and whoever was touching it. Self-defense, to put it shortly and simply.

"Do what? All I did was kick something, and not hard without air, and something happened!" Anissa shrieked, alarmed that her leg still wasn't waking up while Hitori De seemed to have forgotten the pain already. She stood up with much effort and eyed Hitori De warily. He was scratching at his collar… like a--a--, well…a dog.

"You almost broke the damn collar! Do you know how bad that would have been? I would have lost all the powers I had and my lord wouldn't have let me have them back, you fool!" Hitori De lost it, he was in a panick. If his master, Shi, found out how close he had been to losing the collar, he wouldn't feel anything for at least a week, he would feel pain so badly. He didn't care if the Anissa heard him, he doubted that she would even touch the crimson ribbon again, even if it meantto stop him.

Hitori De paced around in a circle, panicking, eyeing Anissa all the while. He would bet on his life that Shi was watching him to make sure he didn't kill the girl or push her too hard. This little setback would earn him a couple punishments but that would most likely, _hopefully_be all.

Anissa took her chance while he was distracted by his own thoughts and ran as quietly and quickly as she could with her twin blades already in her hand from where she had dropped them. His collar, she guessed, was his weakest spot but also his strongest. Ironic.

If Kayane knew of something like that, Kayane would not be attacking it from behind, she would be trying to figure out how it worked. Especially the fact that it allowed Hitori De to affect her real body and almost kill her. But she wasn't Kayane, didn't want to waste time thinking uselessly about an answer she knew she wouldn't be able to find. She lept up into the air and brought her twin blades down the back of his neck, digging them in as far as she could make them while still dragging them down to cut the blood red ribbon.

Hitori De howled in sheer pain when his neck was sliced by the girl and he let out dry, soundlesscries when he felt even more pain from the ribbons defiance to be destroyed. It was too much for him. He slipped from the World and reality, and went on to his next life.

Anissa fell back and started to cry, laying on her side. She was in absolute pain. Her arms from the pressure of gravity lay flat and motionless on the cool, leveled ground. The black of the night, no moon or stars to light her way to peaceful sleep and good ending to the day, she stayed awake, bearing the pain best she could yet still crying. God, she hoped her sister or Shugo or Rena or anybody would come and find her. So she wouldn't be alone. She wouldn't bear the pain by herself.

"So weak, yet so strong."

Anissa froze the best she could, still letting out silent, choking sobs and shaking barely as she tried to seem the opposite of what she was to whoever, or whatever itwas.Not vulnerable, not in pain, and not feeling very, very lonely. "Who are you?" she whispered, her voice hoarse even more with crying, knowing it had to have been someone who'd been watching her battle, her fight.

"Well, I was the master of Hitori De, but it seems he is no longer alive. I fear it was only because he was afraid of what I might've done to him if he had indeed survived. I must say though, he did quite a fine job in doing what I ordered him to do."

"W--was?" Anissa's eyes went wide. This man, whoever it was, was saying she had killed him. Acting as if he was truly living, like she thought, and not just a regular illegal World monster, like she wished, and not thought. He was saying she had murdered someone. "He wasn't j-just a m-moster," she said, more to convince herself than the man walking around to the front of her.

"No, he was alive, a human, stupid girl. Your sister would have known that and simply slipped the collar off then destroyed it. Even though it would have most definately killed her in the process." Shi was doing what he came do. Make the girl feel guilty, lesser than her sister, weak. Divide and conquer. How he loved that saying. "It is all your fault he is dead." He loved the grief and misery people felt when guilt overcame them. Shi loved the emotion on faces even more, especially women since they were more emotional than men. Anissa seemed like a _very _emotional person with the way her guilt was pouring off her in almost visiblewaves. Fear was mingled with it too, fear of her family and friends finding out and rejecting her because of it.

"No," she moaned, crying as he kneeled down and showed her his face. "I didn't-- he wasn't re-- he's not-- he can't be…" Anissa was on the brink of hysterics, ready to start screaming and crying loudly for all the World to hear. Between her gasps of panick and denial, she heard the sound of someone teleporting in through the Chaos Gate. She watched Shi disappear, amazed when he seemed to fade away, still kneeling down by her.

"It wasn't a human… he wasn't a human… I didn't do it, I didn't kill him… I couldn't have…" Anissa continued to ramble on, her voice barely that of a mumble. Tears still streamed down her face mercilessly, and she still shook as if she was in the artic in a swim suit.

"Oh, Kami, Anissa!" she heard from behind her. Anissa barely recognized it as her sister's voice. She had never heard her sister sound so… so… scared and in a panick. Less than a second later, Kayane was at her side, embracing her and crying. She wondered how bad she must have looked to make her sister, the strongest person she ever knew who didn't cry at all when their mother refused to have any connection with her eldest daughter, was crying harder than Anissa beleived Kayane had ever cried. She expected her to swear loudly.

"I'm sorry," she cried into Kayane's shoulder, clutching the fabric of the back of Kayane's clothes for comfort. It was the only thing she couldhold onto, that hadheld onto her even when they'd been seperated purposely by their mother."I didn't mean to! I didn't know he was human, I thought he was another monster! I didn't think he would die!" she sobbed. In all her worst dreams, Anissa never thought she would kill someone intentionally without actually meaning to. She never thought she would kill in the first place.

"It's all right. Shh…"

Anissa slumped against the warmth of Kayane's arms in a what seemed to be a freezing area for Anissa. She was safe and she wasn't alone. Slowly, as if she knew exatly what pain Anissa was feeling, Kayane rubbed her hands up and down Anissa's arms, unaware that her hot tears fell on Anissa's arms. "I killed him, Alyssa." Anissa forgot about calling her sister by her player name. She forgot she was in the game and that three other people were kneeling on the ground and surrounding her and her sister. "I didn't mean to, I thought he was a normal monster but he wasn't, he was alive, he was a human and I killed him."

"It isn't your fault. You didn't mean to, you were defending yourself, don't let false guilt overwhelm you," she assured her younger sister. "Just forget about it and-"

"I can't forget about it, Alyssa!" she cried, her voice barely muffled by the clothing fabric her face was buried in. "If it was you battling him, you wouldn't have killed him! You would have had the sense to know he was human and to take off the collar, knowing if you destroyed it that he woulddie,then destroy it!" Anissa shouted. More than ever before, she noticed just how much she was comforted by her sister's presense. Usually, she felt normal and she wasn't away from her sister in the way she was moments before.

"No, I most likely would have done the same thing you did," she responded. "Just because I am older doesn't mean I do things differently."

"Yes, you would have done that. You would have noticed and saved him! You would have destroyed the crimson ribbon after taking it off his neck!"

"No, I would have done the same damn thing. I probably would have just gone ahead and killed him without even thinking he was human! I'm proud of you, Anissa! You did what you had to to stay alive! I would have rather had him dead, like now, than you dead! I don't care what anyone says, you are _not_ in trouble and shouldn't feel any guilt for doing what had to be done. He was a menace to the World and you did what was right by clearing him off the to do list."

Anissa looked up at her sister's face for the first time after the fight, and saw she wasn't lying. Kayane never could lie. She saw, though, that everything underneath Kayane's eyes was wet with salty tears. Her eyes were red and still looked panicked, her lip was red from where she had been biting it quite hard and, most of all, her face was pale with dread at the thought of losing her only sister. Anissa uncurled the fist she held clothing fabric in and wiped away tears on her own face.

Kayane lifted up her knees and sat on the heels of her feet, watching as Anissa wiped away tears of pain and guilt. She sniffled once, and hugged herself, swallowing hard. She had almost lost her little sister.

Anissa's eyes went wide as she realized her arms didn't hurt as bad as they did, they barely hurt at all! She must have healed me as she was hugging me, Anissa realized in her mind. She looked around her, feeling as if someone was watching her beside her sister, and smiled when she saw the twins kneeling at her sides. "Hey guys," she smiled weakly, a bit embarrassed that she had cried and said those things when they could hear.

Shugo, finally having her attention without having to do anything to get it, hugged her tightly. He couldn't speak. He nearly died when he saw her lying on the cold ground, crying and shaking and mumbling as if she was insane, he was so scared. "God, Anissa, what the hell?" he said when she pulled herself onto his lap without actually knowing it. "You had us so damn scared, I thought you were going to die when I saw on the ground like that." Shugo didn't know what he was saying, he was lost in his thought, so relieved yet so scared he wasn't thinking and talking the way he wanted to. Although, what he was saying and thinking were the absolute truth.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Her voice was a whisper. It had been awhile since she had been in his arms. The last time was a year and seven months ago, Anissa's boyfriend, who she had been going out with for a total of twelve months, a full year. He broke up with her on their one year anniversary, saying he had been double-timing her for the last two months. He wasn't nice or polite to her in anyway. Dumped her off at the pier and drove off with his new girlfriend who was actually 'willing to fuck' with him. She had run to Shugo's house and cried herself to sleep in his arms. The next day, her ex came up to her with a broken nose and apologized. Anissa still had the suspicion that the broken nose wasn't from falling on the ground, but from Shugo's disagreement with his decision.

"It's okay. I'm just so glad that you are all right. I don't know what I would have done if you had been killed."

"Good thing, I didn't, huh?" Anissa smiled. He always knew how to make her smile, from either the sound of his voice or the way she had to make him smile if he wasn't.

"Hell yeah." Shugo glanced over at Kayane, seeing her stand up in the corner of his eye. He turned his attention back to Anissa quickly. "Don't go off like that again."

"Okay, mommy," Anissa chided, giggling a bit at his annoyed, yet amused growl. "I won't go off again, Shugo, I promise. Even though this time wasn't my fault. I didn't come here on purpose."

"I know but… still… for future reference in case you decide to choose disappearing in the World as a way to get revenge for something."

"Don't do anything to me that I might want to revenge upon and I won't get revenge at all."

Shugo rolled his eyes. Anissa was now sitting with her legs draped across Shugo's in the opposite way of his own, her head nestled under his chin in the crook of his neck. Her outer arm was holding him close and his arms were around her to help her keep her balance and because he wanted to. "You never know, I might get bored and throw a pie in your face, maybe to make you stop rambling on about guys you think that were cute and in our class last school year."

"Hey!" Anissa scoffed. "I do not ramble on about cute guys at our school!"

"Yeah, you do," both Kayane and Shugo said at the same time.

Anissa glared at Kayane only since she didn't want to move her head up just to glare at Shugo. "Be quiet. Private conversation. Don't interrupt again, for a third time, okay? Okay, good."

Kayane raised an eyebrow along with Balmung. She chuckled lightly while he simply rolled his eyes and turned back to Kayane and the dead wolf/human/monster thing they didn't know what to call.

"Anissa said something about a ribbon collar. A crimson ribbon collar," Kayane murmured, more to herself than Balmung really. Her hands were set on her hips to stop them from trembling. She was still shaking from seeing Anissa near death on the ground. Her heartbeat hadn't slowed down one bit and neither had her hitchy breaths she couldn't control. She hoped no one noticed, that thier attention was focused on Anissa instead of her. She looked up from Hitori De's lifeless body at Balmung, feeling his eyes on her, and met his eyes. She could tell that he noticed because he had looked down at her hands seconds after they made eye contact. Kayane turned around, pretending to not have noticed his perceptiveness and to be looking for the ribbon. It wasn't on Hitori De's neck.

"Is this it?" Rena asked, standing over a wide and long ribbon on the cold, gray stone floor.

Thank you so much, Rena, she thought relievedly, glad she didn't have to search long for it and end up having to talk to Balmung or even say anything to grab his attention. Kayane walked over to Rena as calmly as she could.

Kayane stopped Rena from leaning over and picking up the ribbon. From the way Anissa had been injured and had been talking, she didn't like the ribbon. Sighing silently, she kneeled down and reached out a shaky hand to pick up the ribbon.

-To be Continued-


	6. Chapter 6

Last Chapter: _Kayane stopped Rena from leaning over and picking up the ribbon. From the way Anissa had been injured and had been talking, she didn't like the ribbon. Sighing silently, she kneeled down and reached out a shaky hand to pick up the ribbon..._

-Chapter Six-

"Be careful, Kayane," Rena warned. She stood to the left of Kayane and back a little. Balmung was still walking up, quite fast as if he didn't want Kayane to touch it at all, like it was some sort of disease that might hurt her. And it did.

As soon as the fingertips of Kayane's right hand barely touched the ribbon, it seemed to explode like a bomb, propelling her backwards. Kayane's surprised scream rang out through the area loudly, echoing distantly.

"Fuck!" she shouted angrily and in surprise when she landed. The ribbon was clutched in her hand, as if her hand had curled into a fist through reflexes. Immediately, as fast as she could, she let the ribbon go and her left hand grabbed her right arm. Kayane sat by the ribbon, staring at it in awe. Glaring, was the more accurate term. She was panting, leaning over the ribbon even though pain was still present in her arm and studying it. "What the hell!" she gasped. As soon as she put her head down and closed her eyes, she realized that the red collar had looked familiar.

From something she'd seen or somewhere she'd been recently.

"Are you all right?" Balmung asked, being the first to her side and to even talk to her. He didn't pay any attention to the ribbon beside him.

Kayane only nodded her head. She couldn't take her eyes away from the ribbon. She understood even more why Anissa had been so badly injured when they arrived. And, damn, did her arm hurt really badly. She could barely hold in the 'ow's she wanted to at least whimper if not scream. She was sitting on the cold floor, on her knees, right arm in her lap as she leaned forward to where her bangs were touching the floor easily. Dammit, dammit, dammit, it hurts! she wanted to scream to them, to Balmung. Her arm felt like it was broken into many pieces, only worse, and Kayane knew what a shattered arm felt like and she wished that was all she felt.

Balmung kneeled down in front of her, ignoring her nod, to inspect her arm and on Kayane's arm were crimson, vein-like lines, stretching out like the roots of a young plant. What the hell is that? he thought. Kayane leaned into him, seeing her own arm as well,and he set his arms around her shoulders.

"What happened?" Rena asked, sitting down next to Kayane.

"I don't know, I just barely touched it then it, I don't know, exploded or some force repelled me."

Balmung turned around to the ribbon and eyed it suspiciously. He would have to make sure that the area was blocked off. The ribbon was too dangerous for anyone to even know of its presence, let alone touch or see it.

Anissa gasped, frozen in spot momentarily, the sight of her sister flying back upon contact with the ribbon slowly registering in her mind. She'd forgotten to warn Kayane of its ability, what it did. "Kayane, I'm so sorry! I forgot to tell you! I didn't mean for you to get hurt, I'm so sorry!" Anissa cried, walking over to her with Shugo's help. The ribbon must have sent a stronger jolt of pain through her than me since she is a lot stronger than I am, Anissa thought. It was her fault again. She didn't mean to that time either. "I'm so sorry!" she choked.

Kayane was on her knees, leaning over as if she couldn't take the pain. She had held the ribbon in her hand, more than Anissa had even come close to. She barely touched it at all.

"Don't be. I deserved it after all the stuff I haven't done for you. And for letting you get hurt," Kayane murmured lowly. It sounded like she had her teeth grounded to together as she spoke. "And what's done is done. Don't forget that. You can't change the past."

Anissa knelt down to her sister and hugged her the best she could with the position Kayane was in. A few moments ago, Kayane was the one holding her, now she was returning the favor. "No, it wasn't true, what I said. It's not your fault I was hurt, it's whoever sent him." Anissa felt the rise and fall of Kayane's upper body as Kayane took the best breath's she could in the minutes that passed after she spoke. She wondered what her sister was doing at her father's. If she was even controlling the controller still. Kayane hadn't done or said anything since she last spoke.

Kayane fisted her right hand, to keep her hand moving to circulate the blood more. The faster that blood got to her hand, the faster the pain came and went. She stood up when she could bear the pain without putting on a pained expression, reaching out her good arm when Anissa jumped in surprise and fell to the ground. "Sorry."

Anissa stared up at her sister. Her face looked completely normal. Except for the pain in her eyes. She's forcing herself to bear the pain, she thought.

"Kayane, don't," she said commandingly, a glare aimed at her sister. "If it hurts, don't make it hurt any worse than it is."

"I'm not. If I don't move my arm, the pain subsides. And I can walk perfectly fine, its notmy legs thatare hurt."

"You use your arm to balance," Anissa snapped, finding what she said completely reasonable.

"I don't need to."

"Yes, you do, that is your… most used… arm. Are-- Are you hurt outside of the game?" Anissa replied, crossing her arms in a silent dare to oppose her. She was Kayane's younger sister, the one Kayane had made sure to protect and guide. Kayane would never hurt her on purpose.

_Ever_.

"I'm fine." Kayane glared at her sister. She stalked pass Anissa and left the area.

"I swear, she is gonna hurt herself permanantly one of these days and she's _going_ to regret it," Rena sighed, following Kayane a moment later.

Shugo and Anissa exchanged glances then sighed loudly, following the two of them. Balmung behind them.

When they arrived in Sakura Blossoms, Anissa and Shugo groaned when Kayane was standing completely drenched in water ahead of them looking over annoyed. Anissa buried her head in Shugo's chest, frustrated that Rena constantly used the same tactic on whoever spaced out on her. "Shugo, why, _why_ does she do that?" Shugo chuckled, setting his arm around her shoulders and resting his chin on the top of her head lightly. She was cute when she was frustrated, that she was.

"Rena, you didn't splash her, did you?" Shugo asked, hoping to here a negative answer, a hint of amusement still in his voice. Rena needed to stop using aqua rain on Kayane when Kayane was looking at something for longer than five seconds.

"Yeah, she was staring off into space again. She doesn't usually do that and with her arm and all, I didn't want to take the chance that it was that red collar thing-a-ma-bob," Rena explained, sounding completely convinced and satisfied with her own voice of reason.

"I saw someone, okay?" Kayane said dryly defending herself and watching as she dried quickly. "The player we saw earlier today," she continued, looking up, "Kara. She was over there, sitting, and was looking straight at me when I teleported here."

Rena gave Kayane a quizzical look, then raised an eyebrow at her. "_I_ didn't see anyone. Kayane, are you sure?"

Kayane rolled her eyes. "Yes, I am sure. If you want proof, she walked behind the group of low willows over there." Kayane pointed over Rena's shoulder, who was in front of her, to where they had hidden behind earlier.

"Fine then. We'll go look and if she isn't there…" Rena remarked, waving her finger in Kayane's face. "We'll… uh, lets hope we don't find out what we will do to you if she isn't there."

A blank and unamused expression adorned Kayane's face. "Can't wait," she dead-panned. She watched as Rena walked over to where Kayane pointed then turn around when she was almost there.

"If this is some kind of joke to get me back for splashing you, you had better run now."

Kayane rolled her eyes widely. "Do I look like I am playing a joke on you, Rena?" she asked seriously.

"I wouldn't know. You don't look like anything ever except some killer mode or nothing mode. I can't tell."

Kayane sighed and turned around, rolling her eyes in cold annoyance. "Rena--," she warned.

"All right, all right, I'm going! Sheesh, you'd think you of all people would have more patience… Oy!"

Kayane turned andstared at Rena's back as she continued on her way, mouth slightly open. "I'm not even going totry to justify something like that by replying to that." she said quietly, blowing out at the end of her sentence. Kayane turned around and started thinking about whatever came to her mind. Akani Nami, Anissa's ambush, the red ribbon, Kara, how alike they looked. Wait. Kara.

And what she…

Anissa was sitting on the ground, legs crossed. Leaning back into Shugo's arms. Anissa had sat down, tired from the battle and Shugo sat down behind her. When he first did, Anissa could not help but think about how cute and romantic it was. Then, when Kayane had mentioned Kara, the player from before, her mind drifted off to how alike she and Kayane were. Apearance wise, anyways. The crimson ribbon from before kept coming to mind and she didn't know why. Crimson… crimson… where have I seen something crimson before? she asked herself. And what does it have to do with Kara reminding me of it?

She looked up when Rena came back around, pulling Kara along with her by the wrist. Her hand came up and she rested her chin in the palm, elbow on her knee. Anissa looked at Kara's clothes and then her sword. I like her outfit. It's a dark blue. The best kind of blue. Anissa thought absently. But the red ribbon on the handle of her sword doesn't look good with it, makes it seem way too patriotic or something. Anissa lifted her head up off her hand, eyes wide. Red ribbon!

Kayane stared at Kara's nearing figure. Automatically, she looked to where her sword was, so she knew where it was andwhen she was reaching for it. Her eyes rested on the handle and what adorned it. A red ribbon. A _crimson_ ribbon. "Rena, move."

"It isn't safe." Anissa was thankful that Kayane was intelligent and that she didn't have to explain her reasons of distrust.

Kayane glanced at Anissa out of the corner of her eye. And some people can't tell the similarities between us, she snorted in her mind. It's not all looks, people.

Rena stopped, blinking in surprise. "What? Why not?" she asked, dumbfounded.

"Just trust me -- us, Rena," Kayane demanded. "Move away."

Blinking, Rena looked at Kayane, not understanding. Her hand let go of Kara's wrist withoutunconsciously, giving both Kayane and Anissa what they needed. If Rena was still holding Kara's hand, Rena might move away and pull Kara with her or the opposite, which was worse. Kara pull _her_.

Kayane moved to run toward Kara and was picked up from behind, grasped by the shoulders. She growled, knowing it was Balmung who she thought didn't know why or what she was doing. Kayane's heart started to beat quickly when he had spun her around after setting her on her feet. She gasped when he grabbed her shoulders again then gave her a short, yet hard, shake.

"Don't attack her!" he said loudly enough for Kara to hear. "Yet…" he added, in a whisper. "What's your problem?" Balmung shouted once again, hoping Kayane would catch the act and play along. "Keep it quiet. Don't let her know till we find out why she is here," he whispered. His voice raised again. "Why are you so hostile lately? Did you eat something or what?"

Kayane sighed quietly when she realized it was just a show. He had really scared her, and that put an unsettling chrun in her stomach. "Would you back off! I wasn't thinking, so sue me! You don't have go all rough on me for it!" She played along, a blush rising to her cheeks when his eyebrows raised in surprise and his mouth quirked in a small smile.

"I'm not being rough!" Balmung had to admit. Acting the way he was at the moment was pretty fun. How much did a teenager at the head of CC. Corp get to yell for fun or as a kid? And Kayane wasn't all thatbad of an actress, either. "If you would start using your mind, maybe I wouldn't be doing this!"

Kara stared at the two arguing, eyes wide. Weren't the two of them supposed to be the mature ones of the group? She looked down at Rena, confused. "Are those two going out or married or something?"

"No, of course not!" Rena smiled. "But they do like each other, just are too stubborn to admit it."

Kara nodded her head in understandment. "Ok, cool." Kara watched as the two of them argued, understanding. Maybe there was more to these people than she thought… more to Kayane…

"I am using my mind! If I am standing here, using my mou--"

"Don't youturn into afucking smart-ass on me, Kayane!" Balmung let out a stifle of laughter at Kayane's face. He didn't know what it was he did or said but it shocked Kayane. He could see it on her face.

"Did you just say fucking?" she asked, her voice a little loud from surprise, eyes wide. "You said fu --You never say fuck, I've _never_ _heard_ you say fuck!"

Balmung bit his tongue to keep from laughing. She's amazingly adorable and beautiful when she's surprised and smiling, he thought with a smile. He froze, back-tracking on his own thoughts. What had he just said in his mind? Amazing…? Beautiful…? "I'm no angel, Kayane," he smiled.

Kayane rolled her eyes. Was he really oblivious to the beautiful white feathers floating behind him from his back and his armor? "What about your wings?"

Balmung looked over his shoulder at his wings. "They don't count! They aren't real!"

Kayane regarded him seriously. "Then how did you get them?"

Balmung didn't say anything at first, taking a minute to think. "I didn't. I got them automatically when I first signed up," Balmund replied.

"It's proof enough for me," Kayane admitted without thinking the words in her head. She clamped her jaw shut and did not breathe. She had caught in the moment, hadn't thought and been guarded with her words as she usually was. Maybe the was something wrong with her.

"You don't need wings to be an angel, Kayane, you should know that. I can take one look at a person and know she's an angel just by her eyes."

Kayane, in return, blinked in mild confusion. What was he talking about? "What are-- what are youtalking about? What do you mean?" Now _he_ was the one using his words like a puzzle.

"You heard me." Balmung was no longer raising his voice. He was talking quietly, his tone almost frighteningly low, and not moving his eyes away from Kayane's.

"Yeah, I want to know what you mean!" Kayane snapped, their faces almost nose to nose. Thoughts were whirling in her head about nothing and was unsure of Balmung's meaning behind his words. She did have an idea though…

"You know damn well what he is talking about." A new voice entered the conversation. One that only person knew out of all of them and another who vaguely did.

Kayane gasped and spun around, surprised that anyone had snuck up on any of them. Balmung shoved her behind him protectively, hand on the hilt of his sword prepared. Both their eyes were wide with surprise and shock more at themselves than the man before them.

Anissa and Shugo stood up quickly, both of them with their twin-blades out and ready in almost complete unison. They had been completely ignoring Kayane and Balmung and talking to each otherabout absolutelynothing in particular. Anissa had not been able to even move into a position to jump at Kara as Shugo's arms were around her already. He turned her on his lap and hugged her, making it seem like she was just leaning forward to change postions on his lap. When Anissa heard the voice, and Kayane's loud and sharp gasp, she jumped off of Shugo and scrambled to her feet, Shugo standing in front of her by the time she turned around.

Rena pulled out her heavy-blade and stood beside Kara. Kara had made a show of being on their side, katana drawn and leveled in front of her. She knew exactlywho it was and exactly what her job was. Shi would not approve of her messing up directly in front of him. She would never live it down… she wouldn't live at all.

"Well, it seems that you are quick to react, aren't you?" he smiled sadistically. His eyes were only set on Kayane. What he could see of her, anyways, as she was partially behind Balmung. "It also seems that you were distracted easily by your hormones. You don't know how surprising I find that of you, Kayane."

Anissa's eyes switched back and forth between Kayane and Shi. What is going on? Why is he talking to my sister like that? Questions buzzed in her head like nest of hornets in some cobweb that resided in her mind. "Who are you? What do you want?"

His attention turned to Anissa, his bright green eyes reminding her of Kayane when she had something up her sleeve. "Shi, your worst nightmare," he replied, hoping to sound as childish and cliche as he could. "I am sure you know what I want already. Or have you forgotten so soon?"

Anissa shrunk back visibly. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? Was he here for her _again_? Was she going to be hurt again? Have to fight for her life against another living being once more? "Me?"

Shi chuckled. "Close. In order to accomplish what I came here for, I just might have to use you to get it." Shi grinned, showing them all his teeth, the abnormally long canines that seemed immpeccably sharp, even for a game.

"And what is it that you wish to… _accomplish_?" Balmung interrupted, eyeing the man in front of him warily. His left arm was slightly extended out to the side, more to stop Kayane from moving forward than to keep his balance while in his stance. He could feel her body pressing against it, one hand on his arm to push it away and the other on her katana, eager to face-down the man who was quite obviously striking fear in her sister.

Now, Kayane was the center of Shi's attention again. "Why…, who _else_ would I want? I already suceeded with the younger, there is only one more left to see." Shi grinned. Balmung had narrowed his eyes in anger and pushed Kayane back when she began to step forward for closer intterogation and to speak. Quite a crowd, the two hung out with, perceptive and strong. "I want _Kayane_ _'dearest'_, of course."

Anissa's eyes widened. Kayane did the same and snarled, finding something peculiar, yet highly familiar,about what he called her. Balmung lept forward attacking him. Kayane right behind him. There was no fight, Shi never moved a finger and he had disappeared from sight completely. Shifting positions warily, Kayane and Balmung found themselves standing back to back instinctively, looking around, familiar with the 'disappearing act' and waiting for him to reappear.

Anissa looked around as well, standing close to Shugo almost automatically out of habit. She was grabbed from behind on the neck and she shrieked, being jerked back roughly and painfully. Held by the neck and around the waist, arms pinned to her sides, immobilizing her, Anissa kicked to free herself, reaching for any part of his body she could reach.

By the time she was kicking, Shugo was attempting to bring his blades down on Shi from the side. Kayane was racing to her aid, Balmung beside her, Rena launching herself onto his back and Kara making it seem like she was only just now preparing to attack.

Shi caught Shugo's blades with the hand that was previously around Anissa's waist and twisted his wrists to where he was bending to his knees halfway. He let him go and pulled Rena off his back, dropping her on top of Shugo then shoving Anissa to them as well with a reassuring kick.

Kayane attacked Shi with her sword, swinging it down as hard as she could to his shoulder. It was hard to ignore pain shocking though her right arm but to save her sister, she _really_ didn't care how much it hurt. Shi caught the blade in his hand securelyand pulled her forward, catching her form in his arm. A kick from his right foot sent Balmung back, to the ground and Kayane kneed his most private part of his anatomy hard and twisted out of his grip only to have him appear in front of her and grasp her neck tightly, as he'd done moments before to the younger sister.

"Not bad, dearest. I wonder how well you fight alone?" Shi smiled, his face close to hers and teleporting away before she could kick at him once more and free herself.

Anissa jumped from where she had been laying, dazed, and tried to stop Shi and save her sister to no avail, finding them gone before she'd made it to her feet. "Kayane!" She looked around, at the others, finding them in a worse state than she was. Rena was rubbing her head, moaning about a migraine happening and how he was going to pay for it.

Shugo was on his stomach, still unconscious from two girls landing on him, hard and fast. He was coming to though, fingers twitching, waking up to push himself onto his knees almost drowsily even though he'd barely been out for a minute's time.

Balmung was still on the ground, leaning back and resting his weight on his elbows. His eyes, narrowed calculatingly, werefixed on the spot where Kayane had been just a short second before, clutched by the neck. "Kayane," he whispered, swallowing hard. It couldn't be happening all over again… he wasn't going to lose another person he'd gotten closer to… was he? "_No_."

-To Be Continued-

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Revampage, peeps. Tell meh what yuh tihnk.**  
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**A**lso, I do know that Balmung did not get his wings just _spontaneously upon logging in _(or however I put it up there), I know he won them in the One Sin event. And even there, Orca truly defeated the monster but he did not want the prize, so Balmung received it. I changed it around cause I needed some way to keep the chapter moving, so thats what I came up with. Sorry if it gave you the impression I was someone trying to pass off that I knew stuff about .Hack when I didn't. 

_Look at my bio for fic updates and such. Anything you may need to know is on there! _

**--BTI**


	7. Chapter 7

Kuroi walked through a crook at the base of a very large oak tree in The World. He was to contact and 'request' Shizuka na for Shi's purpose. Kuroi really hated running around and telling others to attack. He would rather fight himself instead of standing around and weakening with each passing minute.

With a sigh, Kuroi looked around the room. In the corner, a black panther was curled up and seemingly sleeping to those who weren't perceptive enough.

"Honestly thinking it would fool anyone?" he growled.

With that, the panther looked up, revealing its gold eyes. It seemed disappointed. Stretching, it turned to the form of a woman. Golden hair in unnaturally looking curls reached down to her waist and she wore a forest green kimono with black patterns decorating it nicely. Her skin was darkly tanned and has red crimson claw marks in some places. On her legs, two crimson ribbons criss-crossed up her calves from her ankles.

"What would you prefer, sir Kuroi?" she said in a low, seductive voice.

Kuroi regarded the woman carelessly. "For one, that you didn't put on the ridiculous form. Honestly, people who knew what your true gender is will start to wonder."

The woman's eyes went wide momentarily and the form changed once more. In place was a man with completely black skin and golden eyes still, wearing a tan colored haori with light blue bottoms. By the looks of him, he was middle aged, with graying coal black hair, making him look nearly insane with all the variations of colors that was on him. Faded forest green boots that were loud when moved with out precision and clucked on the ground when walked upon unpurposefully.

"Hn," he grunted, crossing his arms. As Shizuka crossed his arms, his outfit changed to a more... 'matching' outfit. His clothes went from various colors to all black with a crimson ribbon in the laces of his boots. The only bright colors were the gold of his eyes and the red of the ribbons.

"Listen, you stupid piece of data trash," Kuroi snapped. He never liked Shizuka Na. To insanely creepy and quiet. He also hated the fact that Shizuka changed forms and acted differently with each one. It made him wonder if Shizuka was really a man, or a woman, or even straight. He personally hoped whatever gender Shizuka was, that Shizuka held no interest in him. "All I came here to do is give you an order from Shi." Kuroi glared hard at Shizuka Na. This time, after watching the battle between Hitori De and the girl, Shi wanted the elder sibling fully attacked, no testing. He wanted Shizuka to try and kill the girl. What the difference was, he did not know. He had only seen her from a distance once, on the screen Shi had watched them from. "Find the female player Kayane. Dark violet, nearly black, hair, emerald green eyes, and dark clothes. Her weapons is a sword, a katana. Shi wants her dead, deleted, both in this world and out." The ribbons Shi had given them, the crimson ribbons, had the strange ability to affect the opposing player outside of the World. He had one himself and found it rather useful, as players were injured easier when the person itself was injured as well. "Will you fulfill his wishes?"

With a sharp nod, Shizuka Na disappeared, off to do as his master wished.

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Kayane was pushed back roughly and she landed on her back and elbows. She watched with her eyes narrowed as Shi smiled to her then disappeared. Bastard. Kayane looked around. Nothing. No trees, no sky, no ground, nothing. Kayane didn't know what she had landed on, she couldn't see anything. Everything was black. Kayane thought it was ironic, because she loved the dark. Although, she had to admit it was a bit strange and interesting how she could see Shi before he had disappeared.

Where the hell am I? Kayane thought, waiting for her eyes to fully adjust to the darkness. Who knew what lay in the darkness ahead of her, behind, or to the sides.

From in the shadows, Shizuka appeared, then decided to follow the girl and absorb her strength and fighting style. When she stood up after a few short minutes, he was surprised as she looked over her shoulder with a feeling of sixth sense in her eyes. Already, the girl had the feeling she was not alone. Shizuka Na decided he may have more than just a bit of a challenge with just simply learning the girl's traits. Perhaps he would have a bit of fun with this girl.

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Anissa's hands went up to clasp around her mouth, eyes wide. "Kayane!" she gasped, turning around to look at the others. Rena was sitting up, eyes narrowed in concentration, and rubbing the back of her neck. Shugo was shaking his head dizzily. Balmung was still sitting, elbows resting on his knees and face in his hands. "Oh my god, what are we gonna do?" Anissa whispered, more to herself than anyone. She wasn't sure she could handle Kayane ending up in the same position and state she herself had been. Anissa could not force herself to stop thinking about how Shi had to easily beaten all five of them _and_ managed to take Kayane, one of the strongest, away. Now _Kayane_ was alone.

"Who isn't-" Shugo mumbled, noticing they were short a person. His mouth was slightly parted in daze, and it went dry andclosed when he understood who. "Oh noKayane."

"Yeah, Shi took her."

Shugo glanced over at Anissa, who was the one that had answered him. "When? How?" To say the most, Shugo least expected Kayane to be the one to be taken. Although he had never really seen Kayane fight for long periods of time, or really at all, since by the time anyone had the chance to watch her, she had already finished off the monster and was helping others out.

"When we were all down, he took her and left." Anissa stared hard at the ground, jaw clenched tightly. All she wanted to know was why. Why it had to happen to them, to her sister. By the time the questions stopped, she was burying her face in Shugo's chest, held in a tight embrace gently and warmly.

"What are we going to do now? How are we going to find her? It was hard enough as it was to find you," Rena spoke up. Her eyes were full of worry and a small, upset and unsure frown was set on her face. She was looking at Balmung, who she highly believed would have the best level head in the situation.

"I don't know. But we have to look for her. We can't just leave her alone with that freak. I _do not_ trust him."

"Neither do I," Anissa declared quietly, glancing at Balmung from where she was. "Lets go now. I know Kayane didn't waste anytime in trying to find me. I don't want to let her down by not doing the same."

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With unsure but steady steps, Kayane walked forward slowly, breathing quietly and listening to her surroundings. So far, Kayane felt like she was deaf since she barely heard her own breathing. Several times, she had the swat her hand her ear to make sure she really wasn't deaf. Every once and awhile, she glanced over her shoulder, getting the feeling she was being watched, or followed. This was a feeling Kayane did _not_ like.

"If this is all a dream, I am so not gonna be happy for freakin out over nothing," she muttered lowly. Her arm still hurt from earlier and she desperately wanted to see whether the crimson veins she had seen on them earlier were still there. Instinctively, her good hand went to her injured arm and she rubbed it quickly. Why wasn't anyone there or around? Kayane thought Shi had brought her there to unleash an attack but at the moment, it seemed it was to drive her insane and paranoid. If so, Shi was in for a surprise.

Without warning, Shizuka Na shifted into a fighting stance at the sound of her voice suddenly in his ears. His boots landed fairly loudly on the pitch black ground. Shizuka had no time to move and hide before Kayane saw him. She had spun around a mere half second before the sound had emitted.

Shizuka kept entirely still. The girl was only a human character, he reminded himself, she does not have the eyesight capable of seeing me. Shizuka watched the girl, expectant on her turning away once more, or even running.

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Anissa teleported back to where she herself had been attacked and found no trace of Kayane or Shi. But the ribbon was still there, reminding her of just how badly Kayane could be hurt. Her arm had been injured already. "If this stupid ribbon is the cause of all this," she snarled, her eyes becoming unclear as tears slowly filled them. "I am going to be so friggin mad." For some reason, words seemed to fail her at the moment and she could quite put out the right words she wanted to say. Anissa turned away from the ribbon with much effort and came face to Shugo. He seemed to be worried. Not about Kayane, but Anissa.

"It doesn't look like she is or was here," he said quietly, breaking the silent pause between them. "Let's look somewhere else." Welcoming, he held out his hand and smiled in assurance. Anissa took it hesitantly, unsure of whether she wanted comfort or not. In her mind, she kept telling herself she had to be strong, for her sister, but another part of her said welcome him. He only wants to help. She decided it would be best if she let Shugo help her, calm her nerves, and let her mind be in less chaos and worry.

"Yeah," she said, lacing her fingers with his and walking close to him, clothes brushing against one another's. "Where should we look now?" Anissa asked, a hint of impatience and worry still evident in her voice.

"I don't know." Shugo teleported them out of the area to Midori Willows. Balmung and Rena weren't there. He teleported to Sakura Blossoms, where he knew would calm Anissa down a little more. Then decided to take a few blossoms just in case Kayane...just in case. How many times had he forgotten to take blossoms when they went on dungeon sprees and ended up nearly losing all of their players? He was not about to make the same mistake and lose the chance to use the healing powers when they would need them.

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Kayane held her breath. She had heard something. No, someone, and something hitting the ground. Right after she spoke, she noticed as well. As if her voice in the pitch black silence had surprised or been deemed as an alarm.

Staring into what seemed to be nothing but air and darkness, Kayane could not move her eyes from the direction in which she was staring. It was if something inside her, instinct or fear or something, was not letting her look away, not even a blink being allowed. And there was the added fact that no matter how hard she stared, everything looked the same. After what seemed an eternity, she managed to blink quickly, and after she opened her eyes, she saw a flash of golden eyes before her.

Still, Shizuka had not moved in the slightest bit or even blinked. Pinpointing me through sound won't work, kid, he thought, taking soundless steps to his right. He watched his step carefully and gave regard to what Kayane was doing. The sound of a sword unsheathing brought him to look at her.

Kayane didn't know of anything else to do when she was in such a vulnerable position. One where she didn't know if she was sane enough to try and figure if what she saw was a figment of her imagination or actually something in front of her. The only option was to attack to be safe. She hit nothing. And the glow was gone.

"I'm starting to imagine things like Anissa, now," she muttered, lowering her sword and looking at her surroundings as well as she could.

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Shugo sat down at the base of a Sakura tree in Sakura Blossoms and leaned his head back, closing his eyes. He was already tired enough as it was from the fighting and searching for Kayane earlier that day. He opened his eyes when he was embraced around the waist by Anissa.

"Shugo, I'm scared. I don't know what I'm gonna do if we don't find Kayane," she murmured, burying her face in his chest.

"Kayane can handle herself and you know that better than any of us. She'll kick ass, trust me." Shugo hugged Anissa in return, resting his chin on top of her head.

"Are you sure? How do you know that she will? You saw how badly she was hurt by that ribbon. What if she fights something that has one of those? She could die by touching the ribbon alone."

"But she didn't the first time, remember? If she can withstand holding it in her hand, being blown back around fifty feet back, I think she can handle a simple little battle when she doesn't have to worry about making sure other people aren't hurt. Don't you agree?"

Anissa sent a wary, unsure glare at Shugo. "Yeah, I guess. Since when did you get Kayane's wise-guy 'tude?"

Shugo laughed, then grinned. "Last time I actually listened to what she said instead of tuning her out cause I always got mixed up when she was talking all wise."

Anissa rolled her eyes. Shugo could sure be Mr. Conceited-sarcastic dude sometimes when it was a tense mood. He had such _great_ timing. "That's great, Shugo."

Bending his knees and setting his feet flat on the ground, Shugo moved to stand up. "Want to get back to looking for her now?" he asked, not looking at her but at the ground in front of him, finding it suddenly more interesting than seeing the pained expression on her face that he knew was there.

"I don't want to look, and see that she isn't someplace, then losing more hope with each place she isn't there. Remember how I was in some place that you guys couldn't find until I showed up there on your systems? We won't find her... not until Shi wants us to." Looking up at Shugo, she gritted her jaw and swallowed hard. "I don't want to search, then get tired when we do find her and not be able to help her. I don't want to be weak and then lose my sister." Her eyes soft and open, completely vulnerable while Shugo's were calm and in control, looking as if he was sure of what he was going to do, Anissa wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling up her knees and setting her head under his chin. "I'm afraid of what I will find..."

The only response she received was his hand lifting up her chin and his arms wrapping around her tightly in a comforting warmth.

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Shizuka na blinked rapidly. She had almost struck him on the neck in a fatal blow. Didn't Shi say that the girl could not see in the black? Sighing, taking a silent step, the girl spun around once again, eyes wild and searching. He could see she was usually calm and in control of what she did, almost as if she wasn't born with it naturally, as if it was burned into her mind and body by someone or something.

Gasping, he yelled out as the hot sting of pain shot up his arm when a blade cut across the surface of it, barely missing the side of his chest where his heart was.

"I'm not deaf, I can hear you talk," the seething voice came, surprising him.

He was sure that he wasn't talking. How could he when his right hand was over his mouth? Watching as the girl stared hard into the dark, he noticed the dark, violet waves surrounding her body, almost like a shield.

How the hell was she even _aware_ of his presence?

Moving to the side silently, no sound made, he looked over his shoulder warily, wondering if Shi was watching him discreetly. Glancing back, he nearly jumped when her eyes were staring into his own, almost as if she was judging his strength already.

Wait. Staring?

Oh shit.

"And I am _not_ blind." With a short movement of bending her knees, she ran toward what only she saw as a black blur and two identical gold eyes that seemed to be mocking her with fake expressions of surprise and fear. It was those eyes that had sent shivers down her back with their amber glow. Swinging her sword to her side then at the blur, Kayane growled when the blur completely disappeared and elbowed her face hard.

Kayane snarled as she spun around to face her attacker and lifted her leg in a swift kick to his legs and feet, her own foot connecting with his boot, sending a wave a shock and pain up through the entirety of her body.

Landing on one knee and the palms of her hands after a muted cry, Kayane gasped for air, the sides of her vision blackening with what seemed to be a dark shade of violet. At the sound of harsh breathing beside her own, Kayane took a hard swallow and looked over her shoulder at Shizuka. He was on his side, holding his leg in his arms, cursing violently at the being that so happened to be Kayane.

His shoes hold the ribbons... she thought, settling her gaze on what she targeted for her next attack; the ribbon that seemed to be glowing, pulsating in time with the throbbing of her leg and waist.

Snarling, Shizuka pushed off the ground, onto his knees, and launch an attack on the girl who was seemingly lost in a daze, staring off into space at his boots. Glancing back and forth at her eyes to see if it was a trick, he noticed what seemed to be a dark, black rim on the outer rim of her eyes, something that wasn't there before, almost shadowing the glassy, wise shine of her eyes. He highly doubted that she was even paying attention.

Taking the chance he was sure he wouldn't get again, he raised his clawed hands and gained as much momentum as he could.

Blinking out of her daze, Kayane hurried to her knees and hands, diving out of the way, narrowly missing the hand meant for her back and head, rolling to a stopon her stomach. Standing quickly, she began to draw her blade and found her hand being crushed and blade hilt broken by a kick directly on her hand, stumbling backwards as the blade shattered in her hand. Turning to dodge Shizuka's attack from above with his claws, his foot was driven into her stomach hard, sending her crashing to the ground with a deafening crack left to echo with her scream.

Walking over to Kayane to stomp on her back as she pushed herself up off the ground, Shizuka both smiled and frowned at how easy it was. Even though the girl shouldn't still be alive after so many hard kicks delivered to her, he was still unsatisfied with the quickness of how she lost.When she'd whipped her head around to look at him,Shizuka looked into her eyes for any deeper change and found there was hardly a trace of any green and a determined, almost feral snarl was on her face as she glared at him...

Drawing in a quick breath and blinking in surprise, he muttered a curse and suddenly found himself falling to the ground.

He had been tricked...

**(-)**

Balmung rushed through the town of Carmina Gadelica, players jumping backwards, sideways and forward literally to avoid collision with the speeding blur of white feathers and silver glint of metal armor. Occasional, a few players a fraction of an inch too slow and getting nicked on an arm or leg by the sword resting on his hilt.

All he had to do was find the player Kara, who'd disappeared soon after Shi had disappeared. Taking Kayane with him. He hadn't missed the dangerous glint in Shi's eyes when he'd dipped his face close to Kayane's just before teleporting away to who knows where. Shi had the same look in his eyes when he'd taken a look at Anissa as well.

Something was going on and for once, the targets weren't Shugo and Rena.

It was Kayane and Anissa.

If this was another ploy to take out the 'twins' defenders' he wasn't going let it happen, not again. He wasn't going to stand weak on the sidelines and watch as two more were killed for the bracelet. Ouka and Mirelle were already killed in front of his eyes and... they were only friends.

But Anissa was like a sister to him, someone to look out for that looked up to him admirably.

And Kayane was...

"Damned bastards, if they hurt her..." Narrowing his eyes at a laugh that stood out from the confused and startled gasps of the crowd, Balmung slid to a stop and whirled around to see a familiar black-haired girl with dark eyes walking backwards out of the crowd, a wicked grin on her face. A challenging one.

Chasing her for a total of a few minutes, through the Chaos gate to a place she'd yelled out as Bursting Morose Fires, he stopped when she stood at the opposite edge of a twenty feet wide crevice.

He was about to speak when she held out a halting hand, telling him to wait to talk. "I heard what you said when you were running around like a crazed monkey in Carmina. What if we hurt her? What will you do to us?"

"Where is she?"

"In good time, Balmung. Just wait your turn. You'll be faced by one of us in good time..." With a diabolical laugh that Balmung thought didn't seem suited for her, no matter the fact she was working for Shi, Kara took a leap down the crevice, beckoning for Balmung to follow just before disappearing.

He obliged, his wings spreading up above his head and creating a soft ruffling sounds as the wind brushed against the feathers. As much as he didn't want to follow, seeing as it was most definitely a trap, but he was willing to take the risk.

Landing softly, bending his knees for his legs to absorb the force of the almost forever lasting fall that made him feel like he was floating after awhile, Balmung noticed everything was no longer the dark, reddish brown but almost a marble like blue with white lines like lightning. He could see the blurred reflection of himself on the stone, the way it seemed to be impossibly dark on the marble, like a shadow, only he was wearing light colors.

Looking around, searching for Kara, he laid his hand on the hilt of his sword, walking forward in an instinctive direction. It was dark at the bottom but ahead there was a strange light that lit the crevice well. It only seemed to make Balmung more curious... and more hopeful.

Breaking into a run, he went toward the light, ignoring all the warnings inside his head that he'd heard about to not go to a white light. Expanding his wings for the second time that day, he grabbed onto the wall to stop from running off the edge he'd suddenly encountered. Staring in front of him, Balmung saw what looked like to rings, one inside the other, both spinning opposite directions that made a loud muffled sound like air blowing into your ear full of water.

It was the source of the white light.

**(-)**

Rena bolted from the chaos gate in Sakura Blossoms, rushing to find her brother and best friend. "Shugo! Anissa! Where are you?" she called, never slowing from her full speed even when she turned corners. Turning around a cluster of trees that blocked her view from the other side, Rena tripped over Shugo's foot and landed on her knees and hands, barely noticing anything as she scrambled around to look at Shugo.

"What's wrong? Did you find her?"

Rena, her chest heaving up and down out of breath, glanced over at Anissa finally, not truly seeing Anissa as first, as Anissa was in Shugo's arms, seeming very unusually small in comparison. But the size comparison wasn't what she noticed first. Anissa's eyes were bloodshot, her face streaked with tears and whole body shaking, _lips swollen._

"Are you okay?" Rena questioned, reaching forward to examine her friends face, then looking up at her brother. His lips were slightly swollen as well, and his expression looked troubled, as if telling her that if she did notice anything, to keep it quiet.

"Yeah. What did you race down here for? Did you find something?" Anissa's eyes seemed to glimmer and shine with sudden extreme hope and Rena was almost afraid to shake her head no.

"No... not about Kayane... but Balmung suddenly went to this some place that has a really high level; sixty-three. I think he might have gotten a lead. So do you want to go look and see?"

Jumping up, Anissa kept her hand clasped in Shugo's and made a hurried, anxious nod in response. Smiling inwardly, Anissa followed Rena to the Chaos Gate, Shugo right beside her. Count on Balmung to find someone... to find my sister...she thought, gripping one of her twin blades tightly.

Arriving in the same area as Balmung, Bursting Morose Fires, Anissa ran forward, following the feeling telling her to straight ahead. Looking over her shoulder at Rena, who was starting to wear out from the constant running, she screamed when her foot went over the edge of the crevice and she fell, pulling Shugo with her and watching as Rena made a futile attempt to slide to a stop from her amazing speed and fell over the edge as well.

Yelping as Shugo wrapped his arm around her waist and took hold of Rena's shoulder with the same hand, Anissa watched Shugo take a twin blade and tear into the rock wall of the crevice, slowing their decent downward considerably. Hearing Rena join in on the effort, a grinding sound loud in her ear as the heavy blade went far into the rock and her own emitted a high pitched ringing.

Looking down, Anissa realized the ground was getting closer and when it was close enough to jump and land safely, she pulled out her blade and kicked the rocks, executing the best back flip possible and landed roughly, falling on her arse. A shriek rising from her throat as Shugo landed dangerously close to her hands, Anissa rolled over onto her knees and looked up.

The top was so far up, it looked like a thread of white.

"Look over there, you guys. It's like the white light you see when you die..." Rena interjected, pulling Anissa up from the ground and pointing altogether.

"Only we're not dead." Shugo took his place in front of the girls, examining his twin blade, now looking as if it had been put in a fire pit, he watched the white light become closer and wider with each step. Grunting in surprise when Anissa rushed past him, he growled and ran by his sister in pursuit.

"She might be in there!" Anissa shouted over her shoulder. "I'm not going to walk like some lazy bum!"

When they reached a distance of fifty feet to the light, they saw a shadow barely visible as it was so close to the light. It was unmistakable who it was. The outline of wings making them smile and worry at the same time.

"Balmung!"

Turning at the chorus of his name, Balmung tore his gaze from the everlasting rings and acknowledged the trio with a brief nod. "Look at this."

Moving closer, they squinted at the sight.

"Glad to see you all have the ability to find what you need."

Spinning around, the four of them glared at Shi. "What are you doing here? Where's Kayane?"

"Calm down, Balmung. You will see in a matter of a few minutes." With a wave of his hand, the two rings spun faster and two people appeared on either side of him, one of the Kara and the other with ice blue eyes. "Look at the white sphere of light... and you will see the answer to your question."

Doing as he said, all four looked up at the ball of white light. Images of Kayane's face appeared, flashing and changing to new ones quickly, almost as if it were catching up with time. Slowing finally, it showed Kayane kneeling, groaning in pain from a kick driven into her abdomen shown a moment before.

When she looked up, at what she was fighting, that had yet to be shown, her eyes were nearly wholly black, still a faded, very dark green.

"See what will soon be your worst and most challenging enemy? See what will betray you in a matter of a few weeks?" Laughing, Shi faded away, the rings slowing and causing the twins, Anissa, and Balmung to shout in protest, denying to accept or believe in Shi's words.

* * *

**Random, a little jumbled in the end, I'm sorry but I wanted to get this finished before I had to go to bed. I hope you liked it, the chapter was a little longer than I usually do for this story, so I hope you consider that as a treat. **

_Look at my profile or bio for update info and such!_

**-BTI**


	8. Chapter 8

I know its short compared to the last chapter, but oh well.

Deal with it.

Disclaimer: Do not own Naunen. This chapter is dedicated to the person who owns Naunen, as she is the one who really gave me ideas for this and got me off my writer's block temprarily, though I am back on it again, and Sakura Blossoms is still on Hiatus, this was done purely for a friend because she is awesome. you rock Sarah!

Don't own .Hack legend of the twilight bracelet, either. Nor do I make any profit off of it. If I did, I wouldn't be using a Windows 98 old computer in the year 2005/2006.

* * *

-Chapter Eight-

Last Chapter:_Doing as he said, all four looked up at the ball of white light. Images of Kayane's face appeared, flashing and changing to new ones quickly, almost as if it were catching up with time. Slowing finally, it showed Kayane kneeling, groaning in pain from a kick driven into her abdomen shown a moment before…_

Glaring up at Shizuka na, Kayane dug her nails into the ground the best she could. Despite the ground being made of some solid stone that she couldn't see, even as her vision seemed to improve with each passing second, her nails seemed to break the surface of the floor, albeit barely.

She was in no way enjoying the challenge she was receiving from this character who seemed to have a highly unfair advantage over her. Both with the ribbon and sight.

It was as if she was being tested while trying to be killed.

With a snarl and a growl that seemed almost inhuman, she jumped forward, away from the reach of Shizuka, and lashed out at him with a spell.

"Skull blaze!" she shouted. When her hand stretched out all the way in Shizuka's direction, many white skulls surrounded by dark violet and black auras circled around Shizuka and, with the added strength of speed, they landed on him in an explosion.

With a cry of surprise, but not pain, Shizuka jumped back and coughed at the fumes that were left behind by the skulls.

What was it about this girl that kept throwing him off concentration?

Or perhaps it just that she was more than a match for him…

Snarling, sounding much like Kayane had a mere moment before, Shizuka leaped to his feet and ran forward to attack her.

But all he saw was air.

Damn, where did the wench go now? Hiding like a child? he thought, whirling around several times to catch a glimpse of her. No matter how much he stared, he saw nothing.

Hearing a small sound behind, like that of fresh leaf falling on stone, Shizuka spun around and raised his sword to block Kayane's own, and, as he raised his leg to kick her, he found himself flying backwards with a kick delivered to his chest.

"Come on, you can do better. You had me on my knees less than five minutes ago. Prove to me you can do it again," she sneered dryly, her voice cold and careless to Shizuka.

Looking over his shoulder, he decided it was time to stop fooling around, and with resolute wave of his hand…

… He disappeared.

Blinking, her eyes as dark and black as the area around her, Kayane froze, listening for any sounds alert her of his position. Breathing as quiet as she could, her midsection heaving and aching from the earlier kick to her stomach, no sounds entered her ears aside from her own breaths and heart beat.

"Come on, you can do better. You had me on my _back_ less than a minute ago. Prove to me you aren't as foolish as you let on…"

Taking in a fast, silent breath, Kayane turned around as quick as she could and dark green eyes met flaring golden ones for a second.

Then the golden eyes disappeared.

Turning around full circle, she snarled when she felt her head jerk back as he took a fistful of her hair from behind her. Kayane bent backwards as he pulled her head down, taking hold of his sword that had been placed in its sheath while his attention was diverted with reaching into a high pocket for something she didn't want to find out about, and winced when stinging pain was felt in her scalp.

When the hell had they upgraded everything to where you felt pain in the World?

She didn't remember buying a new head-set or controllers…

Letting out a strangled yell as he kneed her in the back after seeing her small movements, she twisted her body suddenly and rammed her shoulder into his stomach. Pushing him back and off balance, she tripped him with the sword she'd taken from him, Kayane reached for one of the laces of his shoes with her right hand.

Feeling two large hands grab both her shoulders, Kayane found herself being swung to the ground and her chin hit the stone painfully. Lying on the ground on her stomach, she hissed as Shizuka held both her hands hard under the weight of his knee pressing them on her back while holding her head in place with one of his hands.

Her heart stopping for a second when his laugh echoed through-out the area, Kayane twisted her body, her teeth jammed together from the force of his hand on her head as he wrenched his sword from out of his hand.

"Patience, you won't be stuck in this position for _too_ much longer." Raising his sword after finally pulling it from her grasp, Shizuka forced the blade into her shoulder slowly, listening to ring he felt in his ears as she let out a deafening scream and arched her back away from him.

This was far too much easier than he had presumed…

And enjoyable…

**(-)**

Balmung turned from where the rings were slowing to Shi's fading form. He wasn't going to let him win; wasn't going to let another force of the World take a life of someone he cared for…

Raising his wings, despite Anissa's crying out to him that he couldn't take on three of them at once, Balmung sent a murderous glare to Kara, one to the almost white haired one, then set his gaze on Shi.

Despite the circumstances, however much they were going according to Shi's plan, Shi was frowning like his most desired thing went up in flames, and a small, but wicked smile played on Balmung's lips barely.

"Try all you want… but you won't be able to save her…She _will_ die…"

With a swing of his sword, all of his strength behind the sweep, Balmung cut through the air Shi had once stood, landing in between the two accomplices still remaining, growling at Shi's departure.

Bending his knees, he jumped to the side, into the player unknown to him and the others, just as he was drawing his heavy-blade. Scraping his sword along the rocky but smooth ground as he lashed his sword out at the player, Balmung glanced over his shoulder at the Kara.

Even being a CC. Corp Administrator, he wasn't able to see the character info as simple as the name of the one he was battling with at the moment.

That fact alone unnerved him deeply.

Catching his breath, then watching as Shugo took the offensive along-side him, attacking the unknown player, he turned back to Kara, who had moved herself from narrowly missing the blade of his sword to sneering at him on a rock.

"And he wanted Kara to get close to you all, find out what makes you tick… and what makes the ticking stop," he drawled, his voice dry and emotionless, fitting in almost perfectly with his appearance. "Thank Kami you were all idiots and she didn't have to spend more than an hour with you all."

"Just shut up," Balmung snapped, raising his sword, "and fight, damn it."

Eyes widening in surprise, though a smile crept onto his face, in an almost sadistically delighted way, he rolled the long sword in her hand anxiously. "Well… cursing wasn't the first thing I expected you to end your sentence with, but nonetheless… I can't say I'm disappointed that you have some spunk that isn't as goody-two-shoes as the rumors say about you." His blue eyes glinted as some of the light in the area dimmed a bit, changing from the midday glow to the nearly ominous, and foreshadowing dusk. "Let the battle begin…"

As a flash of lightning clashed in the sky above still reaching into the depths of the crevice, Kara leaped forward, icy rain beginning to fall a split second after Shugo's cry of pain behind him.

As Balmung fought sword to sword with the nameless player, Kuroi, Rena spun around in a full circle, her blade cutting open the small of Kara's back deeply and sending forward off the rock and onto the ground. Ignoring the groan coming from Kara's body, Anissa twirled the blades in her hands and narrowed her eyes at the ribbon on Kara's blade laying beside her. What's with the ribbons… whats the whole point of them? she thought. Snorting to herself and making a mental note to try and find out later, she pushed past Shugo, who was setting his gaze on Balmung and the black clothed player, and Rena, who was tightening her grip on her blade and raising it to strike Kara.

With a cry of attack, Anissa sliced her blades through the air, creating white, searing hot streaks of light in the air in the form of three X's upon Kara's back. "Triple X!"

A short, loud bark of laughter erupted in the air and the attack was reflected back at Anissa, after Kara had put her sword up and blocked the attack, hitting her with full force on the chest and sending her to the opposite wall of the crevice.

Still holding her sword up, Kara deflected Rena's attack as well, and sent a wave of thunder to both of them s short second afterwards, striking them with the power of both darkness and lightning together. Continuously, she sent waves of thunder and darkness, laughing as they jumped to dodge attacks, narrowly missing but a few powerful ones, not paying any mind to the two others battling her fighting companion.

Keeping her main attention on Anissa, Kara seethed inwardly at the silver haired girl. As much as she hated to admit it, Anissa was the type of person that she had feared as a child.

Strong, friends in high places, as Shi was more of a captor then a friend, people who care, Kuroi was another power hungry boy with his head between his legs most of the time, and family, which she remembered nothing of.

Watching as Anissa leaped up into the air and pushed herself higher the best she could, catching small rocks sticking out of the crevice wall, Kara raised her sword, ready to follow, and felt a sharp blade cut into her back. Falling forward, turning to see her attacker, Kara groaned when her body made contact with the stone ground and everything went black on her screen.

She had been killed.

And she hadn't been in anyone's party because it was every player for themselves…

"Well, now that she's taken care of…" Rena muttered, watching as Kara's body started to glitch then fade away. "Let's go help Balmung and Shugo."

Landing on the ground in a kneeling position, hands flat on the ground, Anissa nodded then turned her head to Balmung, who was currently hitting blades with the remaining foe. Shugo was standing paralyzed by a spell.

"Come on, _Balmung of the Azure Sky_, I thought you were going to be a challenge. You aren't even making me crack a smile of entertainment," the player clothed in complete black taunted, tightening his grip on his heavy blade a moment before his blade struck with Balmung's. With a loud, metal clang ringing throughout the air like countless others before it, a wave of red energy traveled down Balmung's blade to his hands, making them burn on the insides and ache as if over-used.

"Maybe its just you." Twisting his wrists, Balmung pushed away the heavy blade and took a swing at his chest. "Considering the fact that you're virtually unknown in the World, even by me."

Smirking when he heard an aggravated growl coming from his opponent, Balmung sent a wave of ice-like daggers toward him, then turned to relieve Shugo of the Sleep Spell.

After spinning around at a laugh, Balmung saw nothing in front of him and instinctively looked up to see him coming down from the air with his blade aimed for him. "Maybe its cause I prefer not to tell the World of my deeds, despite the fact they wouldn't be considered honorable by society."

Jumping to the side and avoiding the sword meant for his flesh, Balmung frowned in response to what he said. "Mind telling me so I can find out just what you've done?" Something told him that despite the truth in the statement and how much it gave away, the player would reveal his name, proving to be as cocky as he seemed.

"Ah, well, I can't say it'll hurt, considering you won't have any time to do anything with the knowledge of my name," he mused darkly, partially smiling when the sleet weather seemed to increase tenfold. "Kuroi…"

"Interesting… Tell me then… Are you an illusion…?"

Blinking, both Kuroi and Balmung, as well as the others, looked up to the dark shadow standing on a short, marble blue pillar, his black hair shifting in the wind and his ruby eyes glowed mysteriously in the dark as they fixed puzzled and surprised gazes on him.

Balmung, taking in his appearance the best he could, assumed he was another one of Shi's follower's, and backed away from Kuroi so he could have both players in his sight. "Who are you?" he snapped, his gaze flicking back and forth between Kuroi and the newcomer. "And where's Kayane?" he added, sending a quick glare at Kuroi when he took a step forward.

"I wouldn't know. I've only just arrived, sir," he replied, a small smile gracing his face while staring down at them.

Eyes narrowing and a frown setting on his facial features, Balmung sent an uneasy gaze at the unknown player. Just who was this character…

… And where did he come from?

Turning back to Kuroi, who seemed as clueless and confused as he was, Balmung heard a familiar cry ring out in the crevice and he wasn't the only one who recognized it. "Oh no…"

Whipping his head toward the source of the sound immediately, the ruby eyed man clothed in utter black bent his knees, eyes glowing a deep red, and he leaped off the pillar, running to the voice on instinct.

Upon the faint echo, Anissa took in a sharp, surprised and gasping breath and her eyes widened noticeably, freezing in her steps to stand beside Shugo and moving her gaze from the ruby eyed man to the edge of the crevice.

"Kayane!"

**(-)**

The intensity of the pained cry died down quickly, reducing itself to a slightly low moan, disappointing Shizuka by the short scream he received. The sword still embedded in her skin, he moved the blade back and forth, and side to side, smiling openly as her body writhed beneath him.

Shifting his weight while on top of her, oblivious to the black haired player who'd just arrived to his right, he unknowingly relieved a small amount of the weight on her hands. Shizuka drew back the katana then positioned it above her right shoulder, preparing to repeat the act of embedding the sword in her, watching as her back rose with every ragged breath taken. Ignoring the sudden brush of movement he felt under his knee, assuming it was another struggle to free her hands, he lifted the sword up into the air and his eyes widened as he was suddenly being forced out of the position he was in.

Placing her hands on the ground as quick as she could, Kayane drew her knees up to the ground and pushed him off her back then, unbalanced, she pushed herself forward to put distance between the two of them.

Almost sputtering, he stared at Kayane.

Watching as she stumbled forward, falling to her knees and the palms of her hands then turning around quickly to keep her eye on him, Shizuka mentally berated himself and wondered just what she had done.

It had gone so fast…

Ready to leap forward, the silver flash of a metal blade made him freeze in his tracks, Shizuka turned his head to the his right. Falling back when an wave came through the air toward him and pushing him back while in mid-air, Shizuka watched as the area seemed to ripple and as Kayane moved to avoid the same wave.

With a grunt caused by her shoulder's resistance to move, Kayane's eyes narrowed and she leaped as far back she could, the wave sending a small shock through her body and causing her to land on her back, disturbing the wound on her shoulder even more.

Walking forward, the black haired and ruby eyed interference sheathed his weapon and let a small smile creep onto his features, eyes gleaming dangerously. As Shizuka moved to stand, he pulled his sword and aimed it at the ribbon threaded through the holes of Shizuka's boots, the smile never leaving his face.

Watching the unfamiliar man walk up then hold his sword out at Shizuka, Kayane moved to catch her breath and held onto her shoulder, speaking the best she could. "Who – Who are you?"

At the same time as Kayane's voice sounded softly, but raggedly, Shizuka asked his own blunt question, "What the hell do you think you are doing?" While thinking; how the hell is Naunen alive?

Turning his head, the unnamed player responded to Kayane, his voice soft, as she was injured. "At ease. I would not speak if I were you." Going back to Shizuka na, he straightened his arm out further, moving the blade of his sword closer to the crimson ribbons in Shizuka na's boots. "I've had enough of this fight. Its going nowhere."

"If you hadn't interrupted, I would have already finished her o–"

The blade was quickly repositioned from near the ribbons to dangerously close to Shizuka's throat, in a perfect place to cut his neck. "While she's in a weakened state? How honorable of you…" he turned to Kayane, "Pardon my hypocrisy…"

Narrowing her eyes, she turned her head away from him slightly. "Your hypocrisy's pardoned…" she muttered more to herself, than to him. Opening her mouth to continue, she paused as she was unsure of whether to speak anymore or not. This… character… wasn't normal, didn't act in anyway she knew how to react to.

He looked over at Shizuka na once more, blade still pricking at the surface of his throat. "i don't remember you being ordered to kill anyone," he muttered. Looking over at Kayane again, smirking, his eyes glowed once more.

Kayane kept her gaze fixed on the one who'd saved her, right hand holding onto her shoulder and her left arm around her stomach.

She was better than this, a better fighter than she had been while fighting Shizuka na. Not being able to see shouldn't have affected her so much, and the ribbon had taken more out of her than she had expected. While she never thought she was invincible, Kayane never imagined that she would nearly fall prey to anything like Shizuka.

Had he not came, she would probably be fighting Shizuka still, or there would have been a victor decided.

But just what had the ruby eyed player meant when he said he didn't remember Shizuka being ordered to kill someone…?

Sure, she believed the idea that she was supposed to be killed fully. It was more than easy to tell with the gaping wound on her back, the bruise forming on her stomach, the red mark on her face from where he'd elbowed her, the stinging of her scalp where he'd pulled her head by the hair.

It was just the question of whether Shizuka and the man knew each other…

**(–)**

"Kayane!"

Looking away from Kuroi, to the black figure leaping off the pillar and racing toward the edge of the crevice bottom, jumping into the blinding white light and disappearing, Balmung bent to follow but was grabbed on the arm, by Rena.

"Hold on, you don't know if that was Shi or not!"

"What do you want to do then? Not take a risk and end up having Kayane get hurt if she is over or take a risk and take down Shi?" No getting anything in response, he turned back toward the edge and scowled when Kuroi stood in the path.

They really weren't going to let him pass by.

At least… Not without putting up a fight.

Raising his sword for what had to be the twentieth time in an hour, Balmung charged forward to attack.

I'm not going to let her die like Shi said as a good-bye.

"_Try all you want… but you won't be able to save her…She _will_ die…"_

I won't let her die… I can't…

He took a swing at Kuroi, cutting through the fabric of his jacket.

I've already lost Ouka and Mireille… I won't lose Kayane…

Kuroi laughed at the sudden quiet of the knight before him, extreme determination written on his face almost like a mask. It made Kuroi wonder just what the knight of the azure sky felt for the great Kayane.

I lost people who were my friends…

Running at Kuroi with twice the speed that Kuroi expected, Balmung brought his sword down on the side of his shoulder. He watched as he fell to the ground, then tightened the sword for another attack, lifting it up while setting a foot on Kuroi's back.

And I will not lose one I love.

He lowered the blade quickly and swiftly…

* * *

-Muwahaaahaa, I'm a bitch, yes, but that is what I will hold you with until chapter 9 is finished by Moi. So… we find out that Kayane means more to Balmung than just a friend met over the Internet… or was it just a spur of the moment thought…? 

Stay tuned to Find out! (I feel like some DBZ or Sports Announcer, now.)

_Look at my profile for update information and dates!_

**-BTI**


	9. Chapter 9

This chapter is rated R for language, language, major violence scenes, (very) mild sexual situations and Shi talking for a lengthy amount of time in his mannerisms that may confuse someone if you don't quickly catch on. I have a way of describing things that may seem perfect sense to me and absolutely none to anyone else. I think its some kind of disorder like schizophrenia (an example of the type of disorder, nothing actually of the same disorder) or something of the sort.

Thanks for the story favs, alerts and author favs and alerts. Much appreciated. -insert huge smile-

Read away! - And don't forget to review because I have Chapter Eleven, and the following one, finished already and reviews may persuade me to wait more than seven days to update -hint hint-. Three reviews wouldn't be too much, would it…? And it was almost 4000 words of pure chapter text. Only 42 words away (damn it!) and it was hard, but fun.

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-Chapter Nine-

Last Chapter: _Balmung brought his sword down on the side of his shoulder… And I will not lose one I love…He lowered the blade quickly and swiftly…_

Closing his eyes as the blade neared the player Kuroi, Balmung allowed himself a rather blood-lusting snarl. He already had a sinking feeling in his stomach that things were going to turn out in Shi's favor – not his, or Shugo's or Rena's or Anissa's.

_Kayane…_

It was almost to much to bear the thought of. Let alone fight well enough to survive a battle.

Letting out a short huff of air from his lungs, he wrinkled his nose at sudden lack of solid beneath his foot and the sound of metal hitting stone – His blade hitting the rocky floor of the crevice…

After opening his eyes, he whipped his head up from its bent position and looked up toward the top of the crevice and Kuroi's leaping form.

Without thinking, he raised his wings and a dark blue wind swept through the crevice, powerfully sending all the players back into the marble blue wall of the crevice.

Even as Shugo called out to Balmung in an order to get himself under control, Balmung propelled himself up off the ground.

"Balmung, chill!" Shugo tried once more. Another sentence was stopped short in his throat as he looked Balmung in his eyes. His eyes seemed to have changed from the dark brown to a threatening blue and Shugo could not help himself as a quiet curse escaped his lips in replacement of the sentence before.

"What's happening?" Anissa muttered, flashes of earlier moments of the day reappearing in her mind and turning her mind into deep thought. "Why is all of this happening?"

"What's the matter, Balmung? Finally losing your temper or are you that desperate to keep your reputation intact?" Kuroi sneered, holding out his heavy blade as Balmung neared his form. "Or is it possible that the great Balmung, the one that does whatever he wants and follows no one else's orders, is finally falling for someone? Surely, the latter isn't true, right?"

"Quit talking and fight."

Kuroi's sneer turned to a grin as Balmung's blade met his own with a deafening clash and he was propelled higher up into the sky in a gust of wind.

"I see you aren't fooling around. Such a unique quality in a game. But, I assume, this isn't a game when players can become comatose simply by dying at ones hands, anymore, is it?"

"Yeah, I wonder what will become of you when you die at mine." He took another swing at Kuroi's blade, ignoring the muffled sound that was made as the blade cut through the air swiftly.

Frowning suddenly then raising a hand to his ear, Kuroi bellowed a startling laugh into the crisp air then disappeared. "This is not over, Balmung. A conclusion to our battle will be drawn soon enough. Till next time, my opponent. Then we will decide who is best." Balmung looked to his right, at a distorted image in the smooth marble wall of the crevice. Kuroi's pale face and ice eyes gleamed at him, the light blond hair blowing along with the wind circling Balmung. "And we will see who is more deserving, as well…"

**(-)**

Cursing, she hit the enter key on her keyboard several times rapidly, glaring at the screen murderously. Damn her, she thought. Damn you, you silver-haired, purple loving, twin blade freak!

Ignoring the musical sound that was a welcome to the World, she logged back on faster than she could mutter another curse at the screen for ever turning black. "Shi is going to kill me…"

Bursting out of the Chaos gate, already in a run, she headed toward where Shi was waiting. If she had been any sane player, she would have gone back to Kuroi's side and aid him in the battle against the group of legendary heroes and the two sisters. But she wasn't sane, she was only a teenager.

Entering the area and running down the hallway then to the door, she prayed that he hadn't caught wind of her death. It would be the end of her…

"You're lucky I had another task for you to do," was the first thing she heard after yanking open the doors to the main room.

"Forgive me, Lord Shi," she replied automatically. "What task is it that you wish for me to perform?"

Ignoring the unenthusiastic response, Shi turned toward the screen of water showing him the strength levels of Kayane and Shizuka Na. "Shizuka Na is weakening and he will fail the job I've given him. I want you to either persuade or force the girl to come here. She is the strongest and the weakest link of the two sisters at the same time and I will need to take a…portion… to link to Korosu."

"Yes, sir." Bloody hell. One of them was enough, but both sisters? Anissa was bad enough, but the elder one; all the superiority of knowledge and battle tactics and… words…

Kara No didn't know whether or not to be wary and afraid of the dark sister, or to be calm and easy going around the sister. Either Kayane didn't talk much because she didn't think of much to say, or she spoke only when it was necessary and it mattered.

**(-)**

It was just the question of whether Shizuka and the man knew each other…

And how…

Looking to her side as Kara No teleported in beside her and held her body in the same position, Kayane narrowed her eyes slightly then turned her head back to Shizuka and Naunen, who she had yet to learn the name of.

Something told Kayane that Kara No wasn't strong enough to attack her and win, even as she was highly weakened and tired from battle. And that Kara No wouldn't be the one to hurt her; someone else would.

"Welcome back," the ruby-eyed player said suddenly, shifting his gaze from Kayane to Kara, "I thought I felt you die."

What the hell? Kayane thought, her lips loosening from the hard line of concentration into a small murmur of confusion. She did not like being the one that was clueless. Or being weak and surrounded by enemies. What made matters worse was that this player looked like Shi, only more feminine and lithe. Shi was more built of muscle for strength and looked to be not very agile and it was the opposite for the one in front of her.

They could still be the same person.

"Thank you, Naunen."

Naunen? Kayane let out a heavy sigh, more to hold her tongue than to calm nerves that weren't jumpy in the slightest bit, and lifted her chin up defiantly to Shizuka Na's sneering face. I really need to find out why everything like this happens to me, she muttered in the depths of her mind. It's starting to put a fucking pointless rip in my life.

"Do you even know why he wants you? Why he's attacking you?" Kara murmured, quietly to where Naunen couldn't understand what she was saying. Kara No, picked around on the dark blue clothing of her body, pulling and flicking off data dust and holding her arm out stiffly.

Kayane watched as the nearly identical player brushed off her clothing, searching for the blade with the crimson ribbon on the handle that she had seen nearly four times in the past hour.

"What do you care if I know or not?" Kayane responded just as quietly, her voice sounding as if it were a threat. "But, no, I don't."

"Then you really are helplessly lost. Have you not heard of the prophecy of Silver winds and Black seas?"

"No."

Kara let out an aggravated sigh. Kara had expected more subtle answers from Kayane to hide the lack of knowledge, like most would. Not straight forward answers that weren't cryptic, as the ones she had begun to notice in the short time they'd been around one another.

But, it was a perfect opportunity as bait.

"Well, then, do you want to find out? Its the key to everything. Maybe you'll actually believe what we're doing is right…"

Kayane stared down at Kara No, looking in Kara's dark blue eyes for deception, finding none. Glancing back over at Naunen and Shizuka Na, the two of them still watching them with speculative eyes, Kayane set her gaze on the ribbons in the laces of Shizuka's shoes.

I'll bet all the money in The World that the damn ribbons are tied into this somehow, she thought, turning the hilt of her katana over in her hand slowly. And, a voice in the back of her mind started, if you go with her, you might find out everything you need to know as well as why Shi seems to know much to much of you than he should…

"If you try any fucking tricks on me, I'll kill you, you got that?" she declared a moment later. "I want answers."

"Got it. And you'll get your answers… trust me…" Kara held out her hand almost beseechingly, gesturing for Kayane to take her hand, the tips of her mouth in a small smirk.

Kayane took Kara No's hand with one final sidelong glance at Naunen and Shizuka Na, then, silently, she reminded herself that people would be looking for her. That people were looking for her at that moment. Most assuredly her sister, and that she had to make whatever was going to happen move quick and get back to them.

Watching as rings circled around her, not the golden color like it should have been, but a deep red, ruby like color, Kayane noted the fact that Naunen had ruby eyes and was most likely one of Shi's followers sent to act out a play to fool her.

If was meant to take her to Shi, and would admit to it, she fell for it.

The arrived in a temple like room, one Kayane would have guessed belonged to Ancient Egyptians for the purpose of worshiping a god.

Shi's showing symptoms of being a narcissistic bastard to the 3rd degree…

Kara No stopped walking suddenly, looking as if she was debating over something mentally. "Look. As much trouble I'm probably going to get in for telling you this if I'm found out later on… You weren't supposed to be able to see in the area Shi created. And now, Shi will be furious that what happened back there, actually happened. Especially with your eyes the way they are."

She blinked, not quite understanding the reason behind why Kara was confiding in her. Wait… her eyes? "What do you mean 'with my eyes the way they are'?"

Kara No's form grimaced, sucking in a breath between her teeth. "They're black. And they look hollow, endless, empty, however you want to describe it." Kara watched as Kayane regarded her with an impassive look, the flicker of Kayane's eyes the only thing telling Kara No that her words were believed. But what I said didn't even faze her… she thought. "As much as that should freak you out, make you think you're poisoned or something by Shi, you don't seem frightened or panicked."

Kayane raised her chin barely noticeably, caution still visible in her eyes. "Should I be?"

She let out a short bark of amused laughter. "I don't know. Shi might think its a good thing or bad thing that your eyes are black."

"Either way, its a lose-lose situation for me, right?"she snapped lightly. "So are we going to stand here for the next twelve hours and waste time that I'm sure that Shi won't like or are you going to show where the hell I'm supposed to go?"

"Whatever." Walking forward, they turned a corner and came to a door made of wood quickly."go right in. I'm sure he is waiting." With a gesture of her arm, Kara No motioned for Kayane to push through the doors and walk into the next room.

Turning to the rest of the way to face the door, Kayane looked up the height of it. It was at least fifteen feet high and ten feet wide, from her deductions. Raising her hands, she grasped the handles and slowly pulled with more strength until the door gave in.

Shielding her eyes when a deep red cloud of dust and wind blew through the open space of the door, her clothes turning black in contrast to the red, Kayane mentally cursed the color red itself and let out a snarl of frustration.

"Damn it all, what the fuck is up with all this shit about the damned color red?" she voiced loudly when the wind ceased, her black bangs falling over her eyes darkly to match the dark color of her clothes and contrasting with the white of her shirt underneath the black jacket.

"Would you like to find out?"

His voice sounded so familiar to her. Like something she didn't want to remember…

Shifting her gaze to the left from the far wall, decorated with two birds; one black and one white, Kayane looked at Shi standing near a red and gold drape with words of another language that she could not decipher written on it. Watching as he turned to her, his teeth glinting in the light as he smiled and his dark hair and ruby eyes reminding her of the ribbons, Kayane sneered at him."What do you want with me and my sister?"

Shi smiled wider. "You aren't exactly… plain and simple, like most players of the World are, if you can decipher what I mean." He turned from her, to the tapestry on the wall, his hands clasped behind his back and showing off the muscle Kayane had thought about before when comparing Naunen with him. "And I have reasons from long ago to track you two down, but that's not the matter of the moment.

"You and your sister are a powerful force to be reckoned with, especially when your two powers work together and combine. You've also got, however inferior they are, a strong group of 'friends' that you surround yourselves with. Whether you know how to or not, you and your sister could destroy and re program the World by yourselves. Your characters and experience are not ones very easily rivaled, as you have been playing for several years and know quite a bit of the World and have been through the recent… Aura – centric problems. You have original character designs that should not have been able to be created because of the simplicity yet intricate character designs."

"And you're saying because of our characters we have to power to destroy the World," she mocked, crossing her arms. "I don't believe this. I expected it to be something rational, Shi. Not this… this… acting like we're goddesses, for fucking goodness sake." Why the hell did she go there again?

"On another note," he began coldly, cutting her next sentence off, "You and your sister are complete opposites. You look nothing alike, in both worlds, and act completely different than each other. You contradict each other, yet, because you work so closely together, it is something that is not found anywhere else in the World naturally."

Kara No narrowed her eyes slightly. Something wasn't right. Shi knew too much. If he knew this much already, why had he sent her to find out more about them? There was no point…

Unless it was merely to dispose of her or get her out of the way… After all, Shi had just said that the sisters were not easily rivaled and she had been killed by the younger sister; Anissa.

Now she was glad that she had told Kayane what she did.

"What the hell is that supposed to fucking do with anything? You are making no sense, Shi."

Looking over his shoulder, he smiled. "I guess I'll put it in simpler terms, as I am sure you aren't familiar with the topic I speak of. You two have a strong resistance for things, things that others would submit to quickly after a second. You haven't and neither has your sister, after several occurrences in one day. And I mean the ribbon." He turned back to her and walked toward her slowly. "Or the ribbon's energy source, anyways."

"Lets see it," she snapped, her hand moving to rest on the hilt of her sword. "And if you take another step towards me, I won't hesitate to move on defense and attack you. Take my word on that."

"Fine, I won't take another step…" He froze and crossed his arms. "However…" And with a malevolent smile and a side-ward tilt of his head, he repositioned himself behind Kayane in the blink of an eye. "I love the spontaneity of your anger…"

"You sick bastard," she snarled, tightening her grip on the hilt of her sword then letting out a growl of anger as the sword was pulled out of her hand quickly and roughly. She jumped backwards as Shi swung the blade that belonged to her at her face. "I don't know what the hell your problem is, but just leave me the fuck alone, damn it."

"You still don't get it, do you? You and your sister are the power needed to shut down this game that is sending hundreds of players, teenage players, into comas. You could destroy the database and erase everything and bring back everyone who went into a coma. I'm trying to bring that power out of you. The natural power from your personalities to the surface where they can be used. If you die in the process, or your sister does, you weren't fighting to your true ability that you know you have."

"Go. To. Hell!" Suddenly breaking into a run toward Shi, Kayane cast a spell with black bolts of lightning, then rammed her shoulder into Shi's chest, grabbing her sword back in the process. With a quick flick of her wrist, she swung the sword at Shi's abdomen swiftly and found herself landing on the ground painfully on her back a moment later.

Groaning, she cursed whatever it was that was allowing her to feel everything that happened to her in the World in her physical body and closed her eyes at the throbbing in the back of her head.

Damn virtual reality and reality all together, damn it, she mentally sneered. Moving her arms back to rest her weight on her elbows and stand again, she felt hands grab her shoulders then hold her back to the ground roughly. Opening her eyes, she saw Shi over her with a deadly look in his eyes.

"Dearest Kayane," he breathed quietly, his tone low and as dark as the red in his eyes. "Dearest Alyssa, I don't think you want defy or deny me of what I want. Not if you know who I am."

Gritting her teeth, she blocked out the voice and kneed him as hard as she could, only touching air as he moved to avoid her attack. "Who are you, then? I don't even know who the hell you are!" His voice repeated in her mind, not from the moment before but from something or somewhere in the past.

"How do you know who I am? What do you really want from me?" she cried out, reaching a hand up to push him away and meeting a red sphere with white lines shooting around inside of it instead. Her eyes locked on the red sphere, watching the red spider like veins traveling down her skin like a virus and sending numb pain through her body, she ignored silently as Shi suddenly started let out small laughs.

"You'll remember me soon enough. And all I want from you… is you and your power…" With a short exhale of quiet laughter, he leaned down pressed his lips firmly against hers and for a moment… everything went dark through Kayane's eyes.

Before she could do anything in response, she was being pulled up off the ground by her wrist, jerked forward then to the side, then she was surrounded by red rings as she teleported away.

**(-)**

"Balmung, what happened?" Rena shouted as she ran to catch up with the white winged warrior, her white hair bouncing lightly despite the tiring battle they'd just fought before returning to Sakura Blossoms, where they were at that moment. And fought to no avail.

"He got away," he replied calmly. As much as he would hate to admit it, he lost some control over himself as he was battling Kuroi. It had been so long since he had fought against something that could rival his strength and he got lost in the intensity of it all. "And she still is no where to be found. I don't like those odds. Not one bit."

"I don't either. Especially since she's my sister," Anissa intervened, walking up in between the two of them. "But I have a feeling that they were just distracting us so Shi could tell Kayane something. If she weren't alright, I'd know."

"Nice to know you guys didn't freak out over my absence."

Whirling, Anissa was the first to see her standing behind them after hearing the sarcastic remark, a dark expression on her face. "Oh, my God, Kayane!" Crying out in delight and relief, she launched herself at her sister and hugged her tighter than she had thought she possessed the strength for.

Letting out a strangled groan, Kayane's knees bent reflexively as Anissa's arms wrapped around her upper back by the shoulders. "Not my shoulder," she choked out quietly. She had just arrived back in a town barely known to but a few people besides themselves, but the wounds still had not had time to heal, even though a few second was all it needed.

"Geez, what a fucking shitty day, huh, Nissi?"she murmured when her sister sounded her worry in a tired voice.

"Yeah. You said it."

"Are you alright?" Kayane turned her gaze from looking at top of Anissa and Rena's heads as they hugged her to Balmung, who was standing in front of her with his armed crossed. "Did Shi hurt you?"

Looking down at the lush green grass below her, she debated over telling him the truth or not. Though, she was sure he would find out sooner or later if she gave him a false answer. "Yeah, but I'm fine."

"What did he do?"

Was it her or was Balmung angry?

"Nothing I want to repeat," she murmured coldly, "but he kicked me, and made me touch something like a red sphere or whatever and it felt like touching the ribbons. And Shizuka Na hit and stabbed me a couple times. That's all."

"Shizuka Na?" Shugo repeated, voicing the question the others felt.

"He was sent after me by Shi. Do you mind? Its late. I have to go to work…" she ground out monotonously.

Balmung sent her a calculating glance, watching as she removed herself from Rena's death grip and turning to leave, then let out a sigh after a moment of thinking something over in his mind. She's going to hate me for this but…

"I'm suspending both your accounts until I decide its safe for your return."

As she turned around, eyes wide, he noticed the dark color of her eyes then with a wave of his hand, the two sisters logged out.

"Balmung, don't you fucking -"

What had to be done, had to be done.

_To Be Continued…

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Uh… No comment.  
Review please. Any complaints or questions go in there. I'll reply.  
(Southern, old lady accent) An' I Won't update 'til I git t'ree reviews, ya hear?  
Thank you for reading!

**-BTI**


	10. Chapter 10

**Warning: **_highly __excessive_ swearing, violence, and mildly mature humor.

BELIEVE ME, I AM AS PISSED AS YOU ARE THAT IT TOOK ME ANOTHER MONTH TO UPDATE. Okay, as you should have gone to my profile and looked at the update/news/etc. Section and learned that I left this chapter at my grandma's purely on accident, I went there Thursday night and discovered that the disk I had tried to save it on totally ruined the chapter. It went from Chapter Eleven to something like (J(AKHDA39KLHD)933kl# or however the stupid little codes go. Believe me, I was extremely pissed – mainly because it was a very very very very very very long chapter, and for a reason you'll soon find out. Okay, so onto the original note I had for it without the... complaint..

I'm b-a-a-a-a-a-c-k! okay, lets get straight down to bees wax here. This chapter, because I love you guys, is ... about..., -looks at word count- a little over 7000 (7055) words of story text.

What I really want to say (or ask) is has anyone tied anything from past chapters in the beginning to this? Something that gives you a clue to finding answers that could help? Anything...? And there is something... something that I will reveal in this chapter...

_Also, complete Italics (multiple paragraphs, complete sentences) are flashbacks – of which there will be quite a few of. And, it will only happen about 2 -5 times in this, but italics will also be when a voice is heard in the mind of another's. Be prepared, lol.

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Last Chapter: "_I'm suspending both your accounts until I decide its safe for your return."_

-Chapter Ten-

Kara no sneered at everything in the room. The drape, the chandelier, the torches and the ridiculously lively flames atop them, the annoying red sphere floating in the center of the room like it belonged and was created by some god.

"_I want you to retrieve Korosu for the last part of the plans."_

It still echoed in her mind. After Shi had shoved the girl Kayane, of which Kara No was beginning to rethink her first impression of and playing with the idea to side with Kayane, Shi showed no hesitation in ordering her around like she was a mindless fool.

"_I'm sure that attaching the data extracted from her by the Cnacehne to Korosu will stabilize the plan and kill two birds with one stone. It will surely finalize our plans and we will complete what we've been focusing on for a long time…Unless he kills Kayane himself and destroys the link, Korosu will be invincible. He must destroy the silver haired twin blade first, then crush the elder sister, which will erupt anger and the possibility to persuade two and our allies, they will be…" (1)_

Quite stubbornly, her mind was refusing to think up words and phrases adequate enough to fulfill her urge to demean every thought of Shi she had once believed.

Now, she wasn't so sure that all the plans, goals, dreams, and hopes that Shi had fed to her, quite stupid and improbable, when she thought deeper about it, were actually what he wanted to accomplish all along. She wouldn't put it past him, especially then, for it all to be a lie simply to draw her to follow his orders.

And, like the fucking idiot she believed herself to be, she obliviously obliged to the horrific deeds from the very beginning, when he'd come up to her years before and said that he knew of a way to exact revenge on her family; the ones who had abandoned her.

She was a bigger fool than she should have been at nine years. It was pathetic – unbelievably pathetic…

Oh why was she resorting to self pity now? Hadn't she dealt herself enough depression in her life already?

At that moment, after standing still for an amount of time she couldn't determine the length of, she raised a hand to the sphere of swirling, fiery colors that were seemingly trying almost effortlessly to entrance her. Needless to say, despite all that she knew – or the lack of knowledge, in her case – and despite the slight fear of it that had been growing upon first sighting the object, it was working. Albeit slightly, but working.

"If I try to side with the five of them, Shi will have my head. Gods, I fucking hate my god damned mind." Grasping her sheath, katana safely settled inside, she unwound the ribbon around the handle and stared at it in her hand before lowering the tip above the Cnacehne. "Hell will seem like a freezer after Shi gets his way, I'll bet. Hell will seem like heaven…"

**(-)**

"No."

No matter how much Anissa persisted and bugged and aggravated the living daylights out of her sister, nothing seemed to make the calm, collected voice rise above that of a dull tone.

After hearing the same tone and the same word, and nothing more than just that tone alone and that word alone, regardless of how many different variations of her questions, remarks, and demands she made, Anissa was positively beginning to become bored with anger bubbling on the surface.

Why wouldn't her sister just oblige to her commands and answer her god damned questions?

"All right, I'm giving you one more chance, Kayane – Let me see you're arm."

…

Would her sister actually reply differently for the first time that day…?

"No."

Damn… her… to…

"Fucking hell!" she whined, standing up from kneeling beside the couch that her sister was currently sitting casually on. Though, no matter how much evidence her sister would eerily, and most likely come up with, Anissa would never admit to the fact that she – the most stubborn, and pride driven girl of all her friends – had gotten on her knees to beg her sister for her compliance.

Nope, not ever; not even a batch of cookies could make her admit to it.

Although, she'd say it would be an entirely close call, if anyone would ask her.

She was ready pick up a pillow and begin whacking her sister with all her strength, then run for her life, when her sister spoke again.

"Since when did you decide to not call me by my given name? Unless I'm mistaken and got hit over the head, I distinctly recall my name being something along the lines of 'Alyssa', not Kayane."

Oh fuck…

Did she really call her sister Kayane…?

When you start calling people you know in real life by their names in a game, that's when you know you've become entirely obsessed with the game and that your life and happiness and mood officially depends on whether you play or not – and the events that happen around the game, Anissa thought, scowling at herself and her sister.

"Damn… uh… me…," she cursed, her scowl forming into an apologetic and slightly crooked smile that was meant to put on a show of slight embarrassment.

She was half expecting her sister to look up at her from the book she was reading and raise an eyebrow her way and half expecting her sister to ignore her completely and go on with reading.

In other words, she wasn't expecting her sister to grab the nearest pillow, shove it in her face then quietly and amusedly say, "Is that proof enough to you that my arm is fine? Or do I have to initiate an all out pillow war on you to convince you?"

What sent a nervous laugh up Anissa's throat and out of her mouth was the slightly mischievous grin her sister had set on her face, and a grin alone was something that Anissa seldom saw on her face.

It was quite unnerving…

Well, almost.

"Uh… I don't know which I'd rather have – getting whacked and knowing you're okay, or not getting whacked and not knowing for sure that your arm is okay."

The grin Anissa had been eying cautiously disappeared and she saw the usual line of seriousness and perceptiveness settle on her sister's lips as the mood suddenly shifted.

"Just believe me, Anissa. My arm is fine. I'm not an idiot, you know that. I wouldn't risk serious injury and endanger any lives, or my own, because of my stubborn pride. I know when you back down and not let pride get the best of me."

"Do you promise me?"

"Yeah, I promise."

"Good. It's noon; everybody should be on about now, and Balmung said he might let us log in again. I think we should talk to him, don't you?"

"Couldn't kill to talk to him, could it?"

"Well…" Anissa trailed off, a grin spreading on her face as she recalled a conversation the two of them had not too long before then. Two weeks before, if one were being exact, was the day everything had happened. "Maybe embarrassment could push ones heart to explode out of ones chest…"

"Calm and collected, remember? I don't get embarrassed."

"Sure you do, you just hide it all the time," Anissa grinned, sprinting to the other side of the room and jumping into a fuzzy chair that was a mix of purple and black colors all over. "Besides, you are going to try and convince him to release from our suspension from the World, right? You need to flirt like your bad self and make him want to 'do you'," she snickered, shooting her sister a wry grin.

"I'm still a virgin."

"I know that!" Anissa spat, a laugh spoiling her intentions to make her sister believe she was outraged by the idea that she was. "I'm glad you are, because I'll kill anyone who tries to fuck you."

"Thanks, but I think I'll handle the killing job myself."

"Or I would," a new voice interrupted. "Anyone touches my baby girl; either of them; will be sent to hell, you two hear me?"

Anissa grinned at the sight of her father walking out of his bedroom door, hair sticking in wild direction, the same color blond that was her own, as he was wearing gray sweats and shirt-less.

"You know, if you looked like the dad's of most of my friends, I'd be embarrassed to have them see you shirtless, but you've got a six-pack, so instead, I want you to wear a shirt so I don't hear anybody going 'God, your dad is so hot, Anissa', okie doke?"

He just sent her a side look as he scratched his head then turned his gaze to Alyssa, chuckling. "Oh, boy, oh, boy, what has she eaten now?"

"I ate sugar and chocolate!" She swiveled in the chair and smiled when she noticed that her computer had started up completely and that her instant messenger program had started and logged her in.

Ignoring the sound of her father muttering about how he forgot why he came out of the room then going back in and shutting the door, she scoured the list of names of people logged in.

Ah, the joys of having a sister who knew everything she didn't and had money enough to buy the program. Well, money enough to pay for an Internet provider, any ways.

"B-boy is on!" she shouted with a cheer, clicking the icon then turning to look as her sister pulled on a pair of combat boots. "Want to talk to him before you go out and bag all the leaves in the yard?"

"Doesn't matter; it's both your choice and his."

Anissa stuck her tongue out childishly and then hit the web cam button. Did she mention that her sister also bought her a camera so she could talk and see the person she knew as well? And people say I'm not spoiled by her, she thought darkly.

Balmung's face appeared on the screen, as he leaned back in a leather chair in a perfectly clean room with highly expensive electronics set in various places. He was a rich kid – which made believing he was an eighteen year old C.C. Corp administrator easier.

Rich people always get what they want if the forked up a couple stacks of bills, though Anissa never thought herself as one to talk. Her mother was the richest woman in the town Hachinohe.

"Hey, Balmung, bu-u-u-ddy, what's up, my main man?" Anissa giggled, looking over her shoulder as her sister chuckled while muttering something under her breath.

Balmung laughed easily, his eyes switching back and forth between the two sisters. "Not much, Anissa, just acting the rich boy part and not doing anything for myself."

"No wonder you're so carefree, then," Alyssa murmured with a smile, raising her hand in acknowledgment and walking towards the door. "I'm going outside now, dad. Anissa's at the computer…"

"Wait! Talk to Balmung! Leaves can wait!" Anissa cried, holding her finger up to signal Balmung to wait and running after her sister. Grabbing her sister's wrist, she jerked her sister back to the computer, noting absently in her mind that her sister wore an old pair of messed up black jeans and a holy t-shirt under a raggedy black hoodie – which was probably the reason why her sister didn't entirely want to talk to Balmung at that particular moment.

Oh well, too bad for her.

"Damn it, I'm not dressed," Alyssa scowled, shaking her head fiercely to move her hair out of her eyes and face.

"I would think that you would know that I'm not like that, you know."

Alyssa turned to the screen. "Yeah, well, I don't care whether you see me like this, because you're my friend, but I do care about whether or not someone I don't know – like a friend of yours, for instance – might come through your door and see me."

"But the point is – you don't know them and they don't know you."

"That is _exactly_ my point."

"God, are you two married or what, man?" Anissa groaned, covering her face with her hands. "So, just ask him the question we were talking about earlier."

"Are we off our suspension from the World, is what she wants to know."

"Show me your arm."

"God, you both act like the mom I never had or needed." She pushed the sleeve of her shirt up nonetheless, holding it to the camera until he nodded his head to move it no more.

"Lift something, so I know it isn't a trick of light or anything."

"Why would I intentionally hurt myself or risk serious injury," she voiced, nearly repeating what she had said to Anissa moments before.

"Pride, stubborn, to show off, to test yourself and stretch your limits – I could go on."

"I know my limits and I know how far things exceed my limits as well."

"You never know for sure, that's all I am saying. But all right, I'll relive your accounts from the suspension, and I won't hesitate to do the same thing again if need be. That means when you're at anytime in any danger or Shi makes even a ghost of an appearance." He smirked warningly, head tipped to the side with an eyebrow raised.

Alyssa could have sworn he was flirting with her; and would have allowed herself to think it if she hadn't remembered that they were most likely miles apart with cities upon cites between them in the country of Japan and that they would probably have to fly a plane to meet in person. Though, she held no doubt that Balmung could afford a plane itself to fly from where he was to her then back several times and have plenty money to spare.

God, being rich must be extremely handy sometimes.

"Thanks, I'll watch my back for red ribbons that suddenly grow legs and chase me, Balmung. Really, I will."

"That's what I want to hear – that you'll be taking it easy. You getting yourself hurt has to be the last thing we need," he smiled, sounding sincere. He crossed his arms as Alyssa crossed her legs as Anissa crawled on the floor to pick up something she dropped. "So, when are you guys getting back on – any specific time that you have or had set?"

"I don't know – we weren't sure whether you'd finally let us off or not after you'd already took your precious time and waited over two weeks, so we didn't plan on it and get our hopes up. Though, I'm sure, Anissa will get on immediately after she actually realizes that you answered my question instead of trying to catch a feather…"

"…She's trying to catch a feather…?"

"…Don't ask me why…"

"I got it! Take that, you brown little bitch! Ha! Ha ha, that was so hard!" Anissa stood up, brandishing a long feather in her right hand, and grinned. Glancing at her sister with a look or slight embarrassment then turning her gaze to Balmung, she frowned. "Why are you two staring at me?"

"… A feather, Anissa, you were chasing a feather."

"So? It was floating all over the place and it was getting on my nerves, all right? Just leave me be, please? I feel stupid now."

Alyssa and Balmung turned back to each other. "We're getting on now – she's going crazy without it."

"I'll meet you at Sakura Blossoms, then." With a nod of his head and a ghost of a smile, Balmung's web cam switched off and Alyssa turned to hit Anissa on the side of the head as she poked at something on the desk with the feather.

"Go get your headset; we aren't suspended anymore."

**(-)**

"Hallelujah! Home! My home, I have returned!"

Anissa spun in a circle instantly after arriving at Sakura Blossoms, and then ran forward to hug everyone in sight; Balmung, Rena, Shugo, and one other person she did not recognize but embraced any ways out of sheer joy.

"I'm alive!" she cried out once more, letting loose of Rena then reaching out to hug the last person left – Shugo. "Do you see me? I have come back to you, Shugo!" she giggled, raising her arms and letting Shugo wrap his arms around her.

"My sweet, you have deemed me worthy to grace your presence with, I am overcome!"

"What a drama queen," a voice neither Kayane nor Anissa ever heard before muttered, who wore a similar outfit to Balmung's with out the wings, darker metal, and with a more muscular build.

"And who are you?"

He turned to Kayane, looking down at her blankly before a grin erupted on his face. "I'm Tengaki. I'm a friend of Shugo's; we go to the same school together," he replied, holding his hand out in a friendly manner. "And you are…?"

"Kayane."

"Beautiful – Creative – I like it."

"Pleased to hear it."

"Come on! We have to go to a dungeon – I need to see a monster get its ass kicked and kicks a monster's ass myself. It has been way too fucking long."

Anissa grabbed her sister's arm then the two of them disappeared, moving so fast it looked like a blur of black and white stripes.

"How long were they even here?" Tengaki muttered, slightly looking down to Shugo. "Not even five minutes, if you ask me."

"Yeah, I know, but that's Anissa for you. She doesn't stay in one place for too long but she always comes back sooner or later…"

"I'm sure she does…"

**(-)**

Anissa both laughed and growled when her sister seemed to take advantage of the mood

and began to race her to the dungeon, both of them sporting looks of mischievous and relieved emotions. "Last one there has to stand back and let the other have fun for the first five monster portals," Anissa challenged, looking over her shoulder as her shook her hair out of her eyes. "And has to buy a new CD for the other, too."

You know what, Anissa?"

After waiting for Kayane to continue, she figured she was supposed to actually say something. "What? I'm going to kick your ass at this and give you the torture of watching me fend for myself while you're stuck on the sidelines and have to listen to music that you and I both love?"

"No, it's actually quite the oppos-- No, stop!"

Grabbing Anissa's shoulder, Kayane pulled her back roughly as she just turned her head to look forward, and her feet fell out from underneath her. "What the fuck is that?" she muttered slowly, staring at the sudden wall in front of them. When the hell had that gotten there…?

"It's a wall… And it's red."

"No way. We just fucking logged back in, damn it! There is no way he could have known we logged in and set something up in time! He's a fucking stalking freak!"

"Amen to that. Let's go." Kayane lifted Anissa up from the ground by the shoulder and pushed her toward the way they came, her eyes never leaving the digital wall that seemed to glow and be transparent; like a glass screen.

"Uh, go where?"

Spinning her head around, Kayane saw an identical wall blocking the way they came and she scowled. "Use your Sprite Ocarina." Waiting a moment then looking down at her sister when nothing happened, she saw the open mouthed look of shock on her sister's face as they stared at each other.

"What the fucking hell?" Anissa screamed, breaking from the slight moment of stupor.

"Fuck, we're trap--" Stopping in mid-sentence, Kayane growled as a hand, one that she felt the sharp claws of, came in blunt contact with her back and propelled her forward to the ground on her knees. Slamming the brunt of her hands on the ground angrily, in a crouching position with her skirt hiked up past her knees, she turned her head swiftly to look over her shoulder. Behind her was a man with skin deathly white, eyes completely black and without anything to determine the direction he was looking, and a pinstripe suit with a red tie.

Did they send a fucking vampire after one of us this time? she snarled in her mind. Standing, she slowly walked over as the seemingly oblivious player, or monster, stared at the silver haired, violet clothed twin blade girl in front of him was poised to attack.

When reaching a distance of ten feet away, his head turned sharply to face her, his movements short and jerky, as if reacting to movement rather than sight and waiting for another sound for confirmation of positions.

Faster than her eyes could comprehend the data, the monster flew at her and struck the side of her face, sending her body crashing into the wall, head first.

Quickly, with a bare seconds pause after throwing Kayane, he lashed out an attack on Anissa, reaching her side faster than she could see and lowered his arm into a curve. Pulling it back then releasing it, he struck the younger sister in the stomach then moved to knee her in the face when a black cloth covered his eyes, face, and ears along with a weight on his back. Mere moments later, a blade, a short one, entered the area of his stomach.

Reaching up and pulling off the interference on his back then throwing to the ground and stomping, he leaned back as he heard a blade cut through the air in a whisper and near his face.

Grabbing Anissa's neck as she cursed loudly and repeatedly, he lifted her off feet and cocked his head to the side inquiringly, holding his hand out to Kayane as she stood tense, watching him with narrowed eyes.

"Go to hell, fucker," Kayane muttered, flexing her fingers, then letting her arms drop to the side silently. She watched as a smile very slowly crept onto his face and he turned to her, his movements fluid and not graceless.

"Well, why should I?"

"You're with Shi, that's why!" Anissa snarled, bringing her legs up and twisting his head between her feet and wincing at the sound of a quiet but disgusting pop.

Letting loose of her neck, he raised his foot and kicked her side before her feet touched the ground, grabbing the collar of her violet shirt, and pulling her down to the fleshy floor of the dungeon. "And what does that have to do with the matter?"

"You're attacking us when we've done nothing to oppose you. And we don't even have an idea of what your name is, either."

"Ah, but it is Korosu, and you have indeed done something to oppose me. If you strike a resistance to my master, it is shaming his name as well as my own. I've nothing to do but to repay you for your condolences."

"God, he's ancient!"

"No, I am merely informed and highly educated, little girl. But, then again, that is probably what you would call ancient anyways, isn't it?"

"No, it means you are old and talk like you were born in 1907!" Anissa spat, slowly raising herself to her feet as he continued to hold out his hand in Kayane's direction and stare down at her. "Don't take me for some sort of a fool." She looked over her shoulder at her sister briefly, merely to see if she was doing anything besides standing and turned back to see Korosu smiling wider than before.

"I wouldn't worry about your sister. I'd worry about yourself. I'm going after you first."

"But you're not going to lay a hand on her unless you kill me first," Kayane interrupted.

"And vice-versa, dude!" Raising her knee, Anissa attacked Korosu's stomach then clasped her hands together and brought them down on his head, biting a twin blade between her mouth.

Smiling briefly at Anissa's ability to keep her talkative and blunt nature even in battle, Kayane moved forward, executed a roundhouse kick then unsheathed her blade and swung at his neck furiously.

Throughout the series of movements, Korosu kept still, not performing any defense and letting them strike him until the younger moved to attack again. He grabbed her wrist, twisted it behind her back, then took her blade from her hand and used it against her, leaping away from Kayane in the same motion.

Crying out as she felt her own blade cut through her skin and she found herself on the ground on her stomach, Anissa winced at the sound of her depleting hit points.

Only three more serious hits and she was dead.

_Oh, fuck._

**(-)**

"I really don't know whether or not I believe that the two sisters are being so easily defeated. Of course, they aren't fighting to the true potential that they don't know they have."

He would have continued if he hadn't know that he was not alone. Ignoring their arrival without a word would cause an accidental murmur that would not be meant for either Kuroi's or Kara No's ears.

Shi looked over his shoulder with a mischievous smile, his gaze flickering to Kara No, then to Kuroi. "I trust you enjoyed your little skirmish with Balmung. He seemed to have given you a bit of a challenge, did he not?"

"Hardly. It was merely amusing to see the great and legendary warrior struggle and get frustrated. I only wonder if worry caused his full ability to deplete below full potential or increased it."

"As do I." Shi turned back to the screen of transparent material before him, watching as his follower, Korosu, made easy play with the two sisters, dancing around them and their attacks with almost unbelievable grace and speed.

Adding even a small portion of Kayane's essence, along with the larger portion of Anissa's from the ribbon left over from her battle with Hitori de, to Korosu nearly tripled his strength and, while he would be more than just a little disappointed, Shi wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if one, or both of the sisters ended up dead, not comatose, dead.

He hoped they wouldn't let themselves be killed at the hand of one of his meek followers and work together to defeat the programmed character. But, most likely, one would try to protect the other and prevent the other from receiving as much damage as possible and end up jeopardizing both their lives.

Shi didn't send Korosu to test them as he had done with Hitori De, strict orders to not injure deeply, and Shizuka Na, to stress as much as possible; he sent him to either kill, or be killed. The battle was in the favor Korosu as he continued to toy with the toy sisters, challenging the levels of their anger and self-control, then, after a few sneers, he would land a blow with his ax on the younger and simply hold the older down with the effect of a spell.

Laughing when Korosu finally became fed up with battling the two at once and trapped Kayane in a small barrier of some sort, Shi crossed his arms leisurely. Lazily smiling, he watched it without a word afterwards.

Unbeknown to him, Kara No teleport out of the room after bowing shortly and letting herself express a look of distaste and anger at Shi's back.

Why does he enjoy torturing them so much when all it means is that he is wasting time, letting the others get closer to finding them, and risking the possibility of them getting free, not logging on for however long it took for them to recover, and waiting even longer? He's a bigger fool that I ever dreamed of him to be, Kara No scowled mentally, briskly walking down the hall of a dungeon she could sense Balmung, the twins, and the newcomer to be located. And he's a big enough fool to believe I wouldn't discover him sooner or later.

"I had better not get the crap beat out of me," she murmured in a low, singing voice. Faintly, after finally becoming within sight distance of them, she could hear their voices in a quiet chatter.

"God, I really hope they had just gotten carried away and are ignoring, or even oblivious, to us emailing them and stuff. I highly doubt it's possible that Shi has already set up a trap for them after not even five minutes of being logged in. They wouldn't even be ready to even defend themselves from a surprise attack."

Rena, Kara No thought, noting that the white haired heavy blade didn't sound as convinced as her words tried to portray.

"But what if they aren't?" the taller, more muscular male heavy blade chided, swinging his blade up to rest on his shoulder cockily. "You guys said this dude was some batty piece of shit, so I wouldn't begin to underestimate him on any level, you know."

Time for her to step in; she was at a safe distance where she could hear perfectly.

"Smart man. Because if you had underestimated him," everyone turned to look at her "you never would have gone looking for them when they're barely holding up a fight against one person. If you don't find them, they come out worse than just comatose – or they might not even come out alive."

Balmung and Shugo were the first to narrow their eyes and begin to take opposition of her. "And why, exactly, are you telling us this?"

Kara No smiled; answering that was exactly the thing she wanted to do at that moment.

"Because, now and forever, I don't like Shi. Or his plans; of which I'm sure were fake, and he needs to go to hell. Believe me or not, I don't really care, but I don't lie when I say that both of them are in danger. I don't know where exactly, and I couldn't find out completely if I tried. If you can, curse at Shi with every foul word you know, because he deserves it. Every last bit. He even rendered two kids comatose, not too long ago, and laughed while doing it. He needs to not get his way, for once."

"And we should believe you because...?"

"I never said you had to, remember? Believe me or not, I don't care. But she's in a dungeon containing the key word Cinder and a battle word. Good luck."

_Please believe me._

And she logged out.

"I don't think I'm in the mood to be impassive today," Shugo muttered, warping out of the area before anyone could respond.

"Neither am I." And the remaining three followed.

**(-)**

"Fuck!" Anissa whirled around to glance at her sister and let out an incredulous, choked cry as she saw her trapped inside of a small barrier with a red wall like the ones blocking all possible exits.

What the bloody fucking hell had they ever done to deserve the pointless wrath of Shi?

Did they steal a piece of candy from him or something...?

"Go to hell, you bastard!" she cried out again, executing her most used attack: Triple X, and striking Korosu several times. Landing on her feet, she ran toward the barrier and raised her foot to land a roundhouse kick. "Same time and spot, got it?"

Without responding, her sister complied and performed the same move, both holding their feet in the same spot relentlessly.

Korosu watched in a sitting/leaning position on the floor as the two sisters looked nearly identical and moved in sync with each other, performing perfect harmony between the two. Both of their faces had the same look of determination, no sign of their concentration wavering or anger rising anymore. Standing, his eyes widened as they both simultaneously raised their other foot, hit the barrier and broke it; the eyes of the oldest were black and the eyes of the youngest were completely white.

Recovering their balance and regaining their standing positions, both turned to him as one, bending their knees and reaching for their blades as if with a physical and psychic connection between the two.

"I think it's time for you to leave, Korosu," the eldest seethed, her grip on her katana knuckle white.

"I agree."

Kayane leaped while Anissa ran, both of them pulling their blades back as far as possible and swinging with all their strength from both sides.

Ducking, Korosu decided quickly to evade to blade of the oldest, which was more likely to be the strongest, and opted to bear the force of the younger's. Wincing as he felt the small twin blades enter his stomach and dramatically change the amount of life he had remaining, he grabbed her wrist with one hand, her thigh with the other, and threw her onto the other sister.

"You must think I am some fool!" he snarled, taking Anissa's neck tightly in his hand then giving a quick, sharp shake before letting loose soon after.

"You are if you're one of Shi's fuck-"

Anissa was cut off by the sound of several people coming in through the doors that they were trapped from. Turning her head to look to the right, along with Kayane, who was in the middle of taking a step with her blade raised, and Korosu, who held the sneer on his face even as he turned to view the intruders.

"Anissa!" more than one person cried, just before Anissa could comprehend the looks of shock and fear on their faces. Turning her gaze back to Korosu, she saw him quickly drawing his hand and ax back, snarling as his eyes changed from black to blood red, and swung to hit her quicker than she could widen her eyes.

Anissa closed her eyes, turned her head away, and held out her blades in the form of an X to block the ax, and screamed when something both shoved and hit her shoulder hard, sending her stumbling back and to the ground. Opening her eyes, she went numb at the side of the ax meant to hit her was in her sister's stomach instead, pinning her to the wall, as she held her blade tightly firm while embedded in Korosu's neck.

The walls disappeared, all the life points she had lost were regained, and the others rushed to her side as she stared. Anissa watched as Korosu slumped to the ground on his knees, laughing quietly. "I was killed by the one thing keeping me alive. And I killed the one that had been keeping me alive. Ironic."

Kayane's bangs fell over her eyes and her hands, now seemingly extremely small as the sleeves of her black jacket slipped down over her hand slightly, clutched the side of the ax with a death-grip.

Hearing one final swallow, Anissa listened as her sister swore quietly in a whisper once more, "fuck," then faded.

"You guys won," Rena murmured, staring at the scars of battle on the dungeon wall and the blade deep in the wall crookedly, then looking down at Anissa.

"But... no, god, no, Kayane. Kayane, wake up, don't you fucking play with me for the first time in I don't – Kayane, damn it, wake up!" Anissa yelled, seemingly to the ground. "Oh, god." Anissa's player went frigid, the controller and head set put down, still turned on. "Oh god! Alyssa, you're bleeding!" she shrieked, then without warning, she logged off.

Cursing vehemently, the rest of them, Balmung excluded, logged out as well, not bothering to even return to a town and save, Rena crying the word 'comatose' just before she was gone.

**(-)**

Damn it, he cursed in his mind, finding himself more numb than angry at the events that occurred only two days before. He walked through the town, ignoring when player bumped into his shoulders or called his name.

He had not heard a word from anyone since after the hour afterwards from Tengaki on the condition of the woman he'd grown fond of but he knew by the lack of communication that it wasn't anything positive. He'd rather make an assumption himself rather than hear it said.

Needless to say, she was still comatose. The bleeding that Anissa had spoken of was both internal organs and from a sharp cut on the arm and stomach, from when her monitor had shattered. How it happened and why it didn't happen to Anissa was still left unexplained.

She still ended up injured, even after what he'd said to prevent it.

"_You never know for sure, that's all I am saying. But all right, I'll relive your accounts from the suspension, and I won't hesitate to do the same thing again if need be. That means when you're at anytime in any danger or Shi makes even a ghost of an appearance."_

He didn't even know. They had been off to a dungeon before he could even catch a glimpse of where they were headed or even give them a warning about leaving without notification of where and when and with who.

If only he could do something to actually help instead of watching as Anissa and Kayane were repeatedly being attacked by Shi. Find out a clue as to who he was in the least bit. The two weeks that had gone by, he'd run searches on tracking the computer he used, validation emails, Internet provider, things such as that.

But all he'd come up with was nothing. He'd even searched for the ruby-eyed, black haired man that had shown up for a bare moment then disappeared to wherever the hell Kayane had been while fighting Shizuka Na, or whatever she had told him was the name of.

One thing he could deduce, something that went without saying, was that it all had to do something with the color red, the ribbons, and whatever it was that was linked to them, or linked them all together.

Red...

"_He even rendered two kids comatose, not too long ago, and laughed while doing it."_

Oh, hell, he was a fucking idiot.

Red – Akai -- Akai Nami.

Why the hell was he even C.C. Corp Administrator if he couldn't figure that simple thing out?

Turning on his heel, he raced back the way he came and was at the Chaos Gate quickly, then teleported to Akai Nami.

Bracing himself for an ugly site and a wide, vast area, his mouth dropped slightly when he arrived at an area smaller than he thought an area could be made. It was only about ten feet walking forward but it was only about thirty feet from side to side; a stone statue of dove taking flight on either side. In front of him was a plaque; word engraved elegantly, and a small wooden board handing from the ceiling, water pouring down onto the plaque and emitted sparkles through out the small room.

Eerily, just before stepping forward, he heard a voice echo – whether it was in his mind or the room, he, wasn't sure.

_The only way to save her is to read._

Doing as the voice commanded, he moved forward and looked down at the plaque. Narrowing his eyes, more in concentration than to see more clearly, he read the first line out loud. "Prophecy of Silver Moons and Black Clouds…"

_"In the stadt Des Gottes, there will be a great thunder, Two sisters torn apart by  
Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb"  
_"_The fourth war will begin when the big city is burning  
__Earth shaking fire from the center of the earth will cause tremors around the new city.  
__Two great rocks will war for a time, then Naunen,  
__the creator of the flaming sphere, will redden a new river."_

_-Nostradamus-_

"What is this?" he whispered, running his eyes over the inscription once more.

_Now the Crimson._

Ignoring the voice once more, not paying mind to the fact that it sounded familiar to him, he looked up at the water falling down in a straight sheet of water. He was about to look away when he shifted his weight to the other legs and a shimmer caught his eye.

Stepping to the right and looking at an angle, he turned and saw words lit on the wall. What the hell did the two nine year olds stumble onto when they came to this place…?

…Crimson Death…

_I carry these memories inside, thoughts of a soul colored by love…  
__See me grow wings and fly high, passions will die down below…_

_Silent black, the dawn… and time tells its tale…  
__Darkened blood, it flows… the forest receives…_

_Look within the dark as deep as you dare. There inside, you find destruction you seek…  
__I call out these prayers to the sky, heavy with thought, see your face…_

He was about to read more when the sudden sound of footsteps alerted him back to awareness and he spun only to find himself alone.

"_The only way to save her is to bring an end to the World itself."_

Balmung turned back to the wall, listening to the voice he heard, and found the lettering gone as well as the sound of pouring water. Turning to look at the plaque, he saw it completely black and unreadable, the water gone, and found the doves changed into the forms of battle ready hawks.

In place of the water was a sword embedded enough in the rock plaque to stay in place, the emblem of a long, thin feather, much like that of a quill, on the center of the blade with a shape of fire surrounding it. Reaching out, he clenched his jaw and let out a silent sigh, taking the handle of the blade in his hand.

"I can't let her die – Not like I did the others…"

_She'll die if she doesn't come out of that coma soon enough._

"And I won't fail her, not this time."

Upon the final word, flame erupted through out the room, followed by the voice that Balmung now recognized as Shi's.

_And so it begins.

* * *

_

_Look at my profile after reading the AN below! There is important information both here and on my profile underneath the _**Updates/Need To Know** _section. Must read information! _

(1) Kuhn nay Shun Nay -Russian.

Did anyone make the connection between the ribbons, Cnacehne (Kuhn nay Shun Nay), the re appearing color red, and Akai Nami? None of my friends caught it...

Okay, WOW, that took awhile to write, and oh, fuck, it was _long, _I stayed up til 4: fecking 45! I had to rewrite it all over again and it really upset me because I had it perfect the first time and this is _horrible_ compared to the first. I wanted to cry when I found out that the disk I had tried to save the original on ended up totally warping and destroying and mutilating it. I got really upset because well, yeah. This story is my baby!

**Look closely at the prophecies. That was not the whole of Crimson Death, or even the very first part. It's a small section of it, and a small section alone in a random area. I found that part most suitable for this chapter. **

This is the Second to last Chapter – Next is the Epilogue. -runs-

If the shoe fits, throw it out the window,  
**-BTI**


	11. Epilogue and Excerpt

Crimson Death is not my own creation and neither is The Prophecy of Silver Moons and Black Clouds. They are the posessions of their rightful owners.

Read, **Enjoy**, _Review_.

* * *

-Epilogue-

_Crimson lights the sky, the birds still asleep…  
__Children's songs we sung, as soft as the breeze…_

I watched as the red phoenix flew across the sky. A reminder, as well as a warning, of myself, and Shi's rule. It unleashed wheels of fire, large as mountains themselves and the phoenix itself, destroying players who did not expect any harm to come to them. Spreading my wings, I leaped off the cliff top, sneering as some shouted as they recognized me. They believed I was coming to save them, to stop the beat of fire unleashing terror and chaos upon them.

The fools.

Sailing upwards into the sky, rather than down at the bird of fire as they wished, I flew over Midori Willows, which had mistakenly been deemed as the last safe place in the World.

I recognized the player saving and risking her neck for others too stupid to run almost immediately. I both smiled and growled at the same time when the phoenix sent a fury of fire upon her, still barely scorching the face and body of the person I thought I'd loved.

The one who I had not seen for almost a month…

_Endless fields, our home… I long for those days…  
__I call these prayers out to the sky, heavy with thought, see your face…_

Landing on top of some old, withered Weeping Willow tree, I watched her battle the monster alone, the twins and her sister no where to be found. Where was the oh so faithful team that they had so profoundly preached about countless times now?

Did they even know she was awake…? Let alone playing the World; the reason she had slipped into a coma?

But what made me actually trust her, Kayane, and think better of her had to be the way she always got down to business whenever. She didn't say things on the spur of the moment in order to reassure people, like Anissa and Rena did more often than I could count. Needless to say, they would make the greatest cheerleaders, wouldn't they? Saying what they need to in order to 'get the team going', as Anissa so intelligently put it once.

Even so, working, or playing, with them, with the one fighting his creation down below, had benefited me in many ways.

However unwritten or disbelieved it is, I felt more than I should have for the green eyed girl fighting the bird that was red-eyed with fury and anger below, and it went further than just a simple crush. We knew it was a game that the other could be some thirty year old adult trying to harass another.

When I first saw her, I thought her to be some over-confident player who would pronounce herself better than most and flaunt herself in front of players like the goddess some say she looked like during battle.

She looked like a goddess just standing, or walking, sitting in a tree, talking to someone… that is one thing I cannot deny, one thing I cannot forget…

Walking off the top of the tree I lifted up into the air once again, the tree falling and erupting in flames a mere moment later.

I sent a look of disinterest at her back; the tree we had sat in many times falling prey to one of her own attacks as she looked over her shoulder, stopping short of seeing me.

_I carry these memories inside, thoughts of a soul colored by love…  
__See me grow wings and fly high, passions will die down below…_

The sky pours rain all of a sudden, something the area was not programed to do.

Though, I hold no emotions to her except remorse that such a fighter would be wasted fighting futilely in a war that she would not win, she was once the reason I turned to follow Shi's purpose.

Setting foot on the ground, I watched as the fight raged on from a distance, players behind me, standing afraid and looking at Kayane like they had never seen someone as… how would they put it… heroic or something as she was.

Yet, despite how 'entranced' they were by her presence and her nobility, they seemed to ignore her commands to leave while they could, that she could not hold off the monster for too much longer, and some even fell to the heat radiations, they were so weak.

Some even cried out in sheer fear when fire circled around me, flames licking close to me within five feet and singing the tips of my wings, doing nothing but turning them a darker shade of white and nearly harmless.

Seeing them both jump and soar into the sky, I marveled at the sight of two dark colored beings do battle in the skies, neither of them gaining the upper hand, yet both bloody.

_I burn in the basin of fire, watchers look on as they dance in their merciless sky…  
__Watching me…Watching you…_

Seeing her glance more than once down at me, I let myself smile, however evil,- and bad-intentioned it may be, it was a smile. I knew it wasn't for hope, or that she cared, she was looking for revenge. And answers.

And possibly to repay me for everything I had done

The skies darkened above me; above her and the living bird of fire was the only source of light and a haunting glow set over the land. The sun rises after being set for only half an hour, which was the most unique quality of the area, something non-other had at the moment.

A low, battle screech echoes loudly, a momentary and almost numb wave of vibration moves through my body and I can see crimson blood falling with the rain, following in a small stream like water running down the hill.

_Silent black, the dawn… and time tells its tale…  
__Darkened blood, it flows… the forest receives…_

She landed with a loud muffled thump, then took off as talons aimed for her back and missed except for a few scratches.

And, as the bird followed, feet hanging low and opened to wrap around its prey, she cut the right set of talons off then embedding the blade in the heart, wincing as it cried in a high pitched tone, enough to break the glass on the monitors being used by players.

Kneeling as it faded away, massive still and the size of a small mountain still, she rested a hand on the neck and lowered her head in short mourning, looking into the black eyes of the phoenix, turned back to its natural color only in death.

All I thought was: Let her see what she really is, in those eyes. Let her see the darkness inside of her that she shows to everyone in the eyes as black as her soul.

_Look within the dark as deep as you dare. There inside, you find destruction you seek…  
__I call out these prayers to the sky, heavy with thought, see your face…_

Turning to me after the beast was finally gone, she gripped the katana in her hand tightly and I couldn't see anything on her face except determination.

The same determination I had seen that won her many battles and pushed her through the more recent ones against Shizuka and Korosu.

Now, it was directed toward me.

I made one push of my wings and flew upwards, looking down at her motionless body, arms still hanging by her sides, and into her green eyes that never strayed from my own.

_I carry these memories inside, thoughts of a soul colored by love…  
__See me grow wings and fly high, passions will die down below…_

Raising my sword in challenge, the battle began, a ring of fire erupting from my sword which had created the phoenix and circling me.

_I burn in the basin of fire, watchers look on as they dance in their merciless sky…_

Finally, spectators disappeared at once, realization dawning on them slower than anything I'd thought possible.

…And she disappeared…

"_Never Ending Void"_

Summary: Sequel to Sakura Blossoms. Betrayal has left them angry. A loss has left him bitter and desperate. The absense of a woman who held them together more than any of them knew has left them shattered and in a mess. Thus begins the destruction of the World.

-Excerpt-

"Prophecy of Silver Moons and Black Clouds"

_"In the stadt Des Gottes, there will be a great thunder, Two sisters torn apart by  
Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb"  
_"_The fourth war will begin when the big city is burning  
__Earth shaking fire from the center of the earth will cause tremors around the new city.  
__Two great rocks will war for a time, then Naunen,  
__the creator of the flaming sphere, will redden a new river."_

_-Nostradamus-_

Laughing, Shi danced from one side of the room to the other in single leaps at a time. Raising his hand, blade clenched tightly, he smiled darkly. Letting loose the sword, then flicking his wrist, the sword flew through the air at his target.

Crying out, he rose from his position of sitting on the ground and leaning against the wall after waking and ran toward Shi's opponent standing by the opposite wall.

Shoving her away, the blade, the one that had slain so many and rendered them comatose, entered his chest; piercing his heart.

The blade slipping from his hand and the bangs of his hair fell over his eyes as he fell forward into her arms as she knelt beside her quickly. Beginning to lower his body covered in silver armor, she clenched her teeth together tightly, more to stop all sounds desperately trying to escape than to bear the physical pains he bore.

His arms circling around her, as he stopped her motions to lay him on the ground and smiled weakly. "I'm sorry, I only meant to save…" With a final sigh, his body faded and he died, a sorrowful cry echoing in the air.

No, it couldn't be… Anyone who died at the hands of…

No…

"Balmung!"

* * *

**Total Story Word Count (w/o A/N's): 38, 360 **

_Stadt Des Gottes _- German equivalent of 'City of God'

…The End. Wow… that sounds strange.

**_Now a word (actually way more) from the one who inspired this entire fan fiction, my little sister, Anissa._ **

Wow, there is just so much to say… It all began with a simple guild on NeoPets when we Role Played our hearts out our passionate imaginations… That's where we created the two sisters, Kayane and Kirasha (Anissa). I can't believe how far we've gotten. From a tiny speck of thoughts to an inventive story that catches many people's consciousness and makes them want to read more. Ok, enough about my little droning on about how it started.

It's hard to utter the words, 'This is the end'. We've come so far and there is so much that we think of daily that we would like to make a reality. Well, for me, at least. I am so happy that you did this story, I just can't express it. All I can do is articulate some words to show how I feel. I sound ver conceited when I say this but I'm really honored that I inspired you to do this! I love you lots because you can make our imaginations (most importantly yours) burst out for everyone to read. I am not only honored to be the inspiration, but I am very, very flattered to be a character a part of it! I love to visualize everything that happens: like the problems that the characters go through.

Ok, I'm getting off topic. The main thing I need to get out; As I said before, I am very, truly, absolutely honored that I inspired and took part in your story. You have come so far, and I'm sure I don't have to say it, but there will be a great sadness when every reader finishes this beloved story. You know me -- I'll probably start crying. I have loved every single moment of reading the story as has everyone.

We're all looking forward to see what you do next. Knowing you, it will be something awesomely twisted. I really am devastated, and I hate to say it's the end. I can't believe it, as I look back at all of the fun memories you and I had, dreaming about what whacked, wacky, wickedness we could possibly makes! Then I start to think…'As one door closes, another one opens' This end is just the fabulous beginning of another great chronicle!

**_ThornedXSoul, a.k.a. Anissa, a.k.a., the one, and the_ only_, Kirasha._**

Hell, you made me cry when I first read that, and I am crying as I re-read it. I'm not entirely sure whether every one of my readers feel that way about my story -- but, you know, I sure as fecking hell hope they do

**!Important!**

I will be taking a two week break from this two piece series, starting February 7. Meaning, I won't write in this until two weeks at least pass and after the two weeks, progress on the sequel, NEV, will begin.

**Thank you, and please have patience,  
-Ice**


End file.
